Run to Me
by figiena1998
Summary: After a frightening attack on their shared apartment in london, Dan starts on a long jouney to find his missing friend. Desperately searching for clues to his friends whereabouts. Dan becomes increasingly more worried and the time grows longer, with the attacker still at large. A Phan and KicktheStickz story
1. The Start

**This is one of my friends' and I's first stories and we are really proud of it so far~ So please enjoy it and review it and sprinkle it with cookies.**

**We love all Phans~3**

* * *

Dan was washing the dishes when something strange happened. The lights started to flicker periodically and the sky outside darkened significantly. He looked round as he heard the door creak, a slither of light shone through and was slowly spreading out as the door opened wider.

Like a re-enactment of a movie, a shadow appeared in the shining doorway. Dan was unsure what to do, this was too much like the movies, if he investigated anything could happen, if he tried to run something even worse would probably happen. So he did what he always did.

He hid.

While hiding behind a cold counter, the tap, tap, tap of heeled shoes echoed around the mostly empty apartment. His thoughts went straight to Phil, he was at his parents for the weekend, and surely he would have called if he was to be back early, but who else would have a key to the apartment?

Dan grew steadily more worried. The only made two keys for the entire time they spent there. He checked his pockets and sure enough, they were there. What if something happened to Phil?He managed to gather enough courage to peek over the counter, pushing his thoughts about what could have happened to Phil to the darkest corners of his mind, what he saw in the short time he peeked over the edge was a silhouette, a man for sure and definitely not phil.

Because this man was much taller than Phil, almost up to Dan's height, and certainly didn't have that innocent face of his. And for one – he was blond.

Dan could only tell this because of the moonlight reflecting off his hair, he chanced another peek just as the figure turned to look at him. A frightened squeak escaped his lips as he ducked down once more. Dan silently cursed himself and sat there behind the counter, hoping and praying the silhouette hadn't heard.

But unfortunately, the tapping sound only grew louder and more persistent. Dan thought quickly and hid himself underneath the sink. Silently cursing his long legs and quietly shut the door behind him.

He could hear the unknown man rummaging around his kitchen; he was desperately uncomfortable so he tried to shift his shoulders a little. As he did his arm hit the cupboard door as it swung open slightly. Dan thanked the gods it hadn't opened all the way but he shouldn't have. The only reason the door hadn't opened was because the stranger's leg was blocking it from doing so.

Dan sucked in a breath, hoping and praying for his safety but of course, the whole universe is against him. The door creaked open and Dan could only scream as the man from his nightmares' head peered around. His father.

Rough hands grabbed him by his wrists, which he had flung up in front of his face in a pathetic attempt to protect himself. He heard his father's ragged breathing as he was dragged unceremoniously from under the sink. The kitchen lino was cold on his back, his t-shirt had ridden up and lying like this, helpless on the floor, he felt more exposed than he ever had in his life before.

His vision was fading as the manic face of his father was getting ever closer. In a last valid attempt to free himself, Dan kicked his father in the special area and scrambled around to get to the door. But there was a tightening grip on his shin. Bloodshot eyes were staring right into his frightened ones.

He scrambled around desperately for something, anything, he could use as a weapon, his phone was on the counter too far away so the police were out of the question.

He still had his keys though.

Still clawing at the floor with one hand he fumbled in his pocket for the keys. When his fingers finally found the cold, hard metal he twisted round and jabbed furiously. He felt his father's grip loosen and did not turn to see the damage he had done as he scrambled to his feet.

In a panic he ran out the door, taking his phone with him, he sprinted out. Forgetting that he was still only in his boxers and t-shirt, he went into the frosty, winter air while the padding of his bare feet were thumping against the hard ground.

He knew his dad would be hot on his heels but he took a small amount of comfort in knowing this area much better than his father did. As he ran, not caring about the chewing gum and glass that littered the pavement, he called Phil, not the police but phil. holding it up to his ear he continues to run, listening to the familiar ring tone he had heard so many times before.

But the dial tone is the only thing that was coming back.


	2. Hurt

The first thing Phil noticed was a constant pounding in his head, he wondered what it was, and he hadn't drunk anything last night had he? He tried to open his eyes but his lids were too heavy, his head lolled on his neck as he tried to support it.

He tried to think back to what he did the night before. Say goodbye? Check. Lock the door? Check. Walk to the station? Check. Nothing seemed out of place. But the throbbing against his skull told him otherwise.

His mind was sluggish; he remembered the train station, but nothing after that. Eventually he gave up trying to remember and slipped into a state of semi-consciousness. He was bought out of his stupor by the sound of footsteps echoing against the walls and floor, he had no idea how long it had been but this time he found he could open his eyes.

He lifted his head, but even that seemed to take it out of him. As the echoing of footsteps grew ever closer, Phil realized in a panic that he couldn't move his arms or legs. They were bounded very tightly by pieces of thick rope. He looked around the room he was contained in just as the door clicked open to reveal a tall man that seemed to be in his forties.

Phil struggled, but to no avail. The ropes chaffed at his wrists, he didn't have much energy to begin with. His efforts were pointless. The footsteps grew closer; the man circled Phil, making sure to remain just out of his line of sight. He was so close Phil could hear his breathing. Phil wanted to turn around, desperately, to get a look at this person, but at the same time he just wanted to be unconscious again so all this would go away.

The strange man stopped just behind him and he was silent, but that only made Phil want to struggle more. He could feel the cold stare burning into the back of his head. And as the man bent over, laboured breathing started tickling the back of his neck. In a moment of panic, Phil bent his head forward and smacked the back of his head against the man's nose.

The man cried out in pain and for a second Phil thought he had the upper hand. Then as the force of the smack carried him forward again the chair he was tied to tipped over.

Phil looked back at the man and for the first time took in everything about him, the man was tall, taller than Dan, blonde, glasses, and definitely in his forties Phil decided. He tried to shuffle away and then let out a gasp of pain. He hadn't noticed before, because of the adrenaline, but his hand was trapped between the chair and the floor. It was already going purple and bruised.

The man glared at Phil for the longest time before grabbing the back of the chair he was sitting on, and pulled. He dragged Phil out of the small room and into a narrow corridor. Never once did he stop until they were outside and the gravel and stones were digging into the open scratches on his face and wrists. The man relented and lifted up the chair Phil was strapped to.

Phil let out a frightened whimper as he was thrown against a wall, his already throbbing wrist narrowly avoiding getting crushed. He watched the man, terror visible in his wide eyes, as the man pulled out a belt from a bag on his shoulder Phil hadn't noticed before. He grinned at Phil, his eyes manic. Phil let out another frightened whimper. "Phillip Lester" the man growled, his voice slightly muffled by the blood running down his face.

"Welcome to hell"

Phil looked up at those words and built up the courage to form his own "w-w-what?" he swallowed. "W-w-what's going o-on?" his voice broke and he hung his head, still exhausted from whatever had happened the night before, and waited for a reply. It came, it that terrible, gravelly voice "heh heh yes, you're probably wondering why on earth you're here. Allow me to explain: I don't like you, I never have and I never will. Right now it's just hate, if you don't want it to turn in to blind rage which will probably end with you looking worse than three week old road kill you had better do as I say, understand?"

"Yes"


	3. Remember

Dan sat on a cold hard bench at the police station, absent mindedly nursing his sore feet-luckily, there were no cuts, they were just really dirty and absolutely freezing. In fact all of him was freezing: he had run all the way there in just his t-shirt and his sonic boxers.

As he waited he tapped his foot nervously, checking his phone constantly for a tweet, a text, a Facebook update, any tiny little thing that would tell him that Phil was alright. As far as he knew Phil was safe and sound at his parents' house but Dan didn't believe that for a second. He knew something was wrong: he could sense it.

He knew that there was some way that his father got the keys. There had to be. Phil wouldn't go off with someone he didn't know, certainly wouldn't give his keys to them. How had his father found their flat anyway? He didn't tell him anything about his life after what happened when he was younger.

_Dan's dad had always been the way he was, but Dan didn't question it until he reached fifteen, the same time he started to question a lot of other things, like his sexuality. He had been considering coming out to his parents but when he heard his father rant for half an hour about 'faggots' to his mother, Dan decided against it. He had crept back upstairs and went on his computer, where he had stumbled across a site called YouTube and on it a guy named Phil Lester_

_The two had become great friends practically over the weekend and it turned out that the both lived in Manchester and went to the same university together. After that they became really close and Dan felt that he could tell everything to Phil, even though they had only just met. So Dan suggested that they start a video call, forgetting that his parents were still in the house. It was almost enchanting seeing the way Phil enthused about the things he loved. Like lions, strawberries and kittens._

_He couldn't remember exactly what he had said but it had made them both laugh so loud for so long that Dan's father heard and started to make his way upstairs. Usually Dan was very careful to listen out for his father's footsteps but this time he was so happy just talking to Phil that he forgot. Their laughs died down and they were both left slightly out of breath _

_"I really like you Phil; do you want to meet up?" Dan had asked. "Sure whe-" Phil was cut off by the door being thrown open and Dan's father bursting in and proceeding to batter Dan with a stream of hate and curse words._

_Phil didn't know what to do. He couldn't see Dan's father's face but he seemed to be well built and strong. "We don't want a faggot son like you in our house" he practically screamed at him and stormed back down stairs._

_"You should be locked out and thrown into the gutters for being such trash." He shouted upstairs in anger, shouting " pack up and leave" by his bastard of a father. They seemed to have forgotten that Phil was online, and after Phil decided to suggest something. "Why don't you stay over at my place? I need a flat mate anyway." And he smiled._

_Dan looked up at Phil, astounded that he would offer a place at his flat to a person who came from a family like his. He gratefully accepted and that was the start of something so glorious Dan had never wanted it to end, but right now it looked like it just might. _

Dan was bought into the present by a sharp ringing from his phone, he was disappointed that it wasn't Phil's ringtone but grateful for some form of human contact all the same, the police at the station hadn't exactly welcomed him with open arms.

"Hello?" It was Phil's mom. "Yes Mrs Lester?" Dan replied, trying in vain to cover up the hope in his voice. "You must be Daniel, right?" Dan lent forward in his seat, eagerly waiting for what she said next. "Have you heard from our son?"

_Huh?_

"You see, Phillip said that he was coming home for the weekend and we still haven't seen him"

_What does this mean?_

"Could you please tell us where he could be?"

Dan paused, ha didn't know what to say, he didn't want to worry Mrs Lester but he was desperate for answers so he just decided to wing it. "Well..." he said carefully, choosing his words "he left last night and I haven't heard from him since."

Dan decided to leave out the part about his attack, which would definitely worry her. "I was going to head to the train station to see if there have been any delays" "oh, okay" said Mrs Lester, Dan could tell she was trying to conceal her fear for her son but it was seeping through her voice at an alarming rate. Dan decided to end the conversation before more questions were asked. "Just heading down there now, I'll let you know if I find out anything as soon as I can, bye"

"Oh, bye" he heard a now slightly flustered Mrs Lester say before he ended the phone call.

Dan let out a sigh. He tried his best to stop letting out any detail's that might worry the poor woman, and he really didn't want to worry her or her husband. Out of all the people that he had met, the Lester's had definitely been the kindest. They were okay with Dan moving in with their son after they had heard about him being kicked out, even after they knew about the reason why. Dan let out a shiver. He bent over until his face was touching his bare knees and shivered again. The blanket the police had given them was doing nothing to help. As a response, Dan wrapped his arms around himself, and found tears started crawling down his cheeks.

Too exhausted to wipe them off he let them stay, who was he to deny them a home, his father had denied him a home, but Phil hadn't. Phil. Every time he heard that name his ears would prick up, his heart would soar and his thoughts would go immediately to lions and adorable and fun. He couldn't just sit here, doing nothing. A small voice in his head said _he could just be lost or something, stay here: its warm_ Dan shook this voice out of his head immediately. He loved Phil, he had done for so long now, and he was never going to stop. Of all the uncertainties in his life that was the one constant, the one he was sure of: he loved Phil.

That's it. He decided. He will find Phil, whether these people will help him or not. So he stood up and let the pitiful blanket float to the floor. He wouldn't need it anyway. So he marched off, not caring about the discarded blanket, the tears that were still sliding down his cheeks or even the fact that he still had barely any clothes on, none of it mattered in the long run. When Phil is out there, scared and alone, Dan can't stand for it. He knew exactly where he should go.

He was headed to the train station, it wasn't far, and he knew Phil had got there at least; the most recent photo on his instagram was of a train timetable with lion sitting next to it. It was those little things he loved about Phil, he was so innocent, so childish, Dan wasn't innocent but he was childish. it then occurred to him he would probably end up back at the police station, but this time in cuffs, if he went to the station in his boxers so he made a slight detour to PJ's house to borrow some clothes. They lived much closer and even as he jogged he could feel time ebbing away from him. Despite his poor stamina he wasn't that tired when he reached PJ's house. He guessed that was the adrenaline. He knocked on the door and waited.


	4. Penance

**Hello~ Back again. Sorry ****for not appearing for a few chapters. I uhhh, kinda forgot about it. So enjoy this ^.^ we worked hard on it!**

**Ah! Before I forget, my friend said that we will include a little extra somewhere about how Phil****get's kidnapped as a treat to those who stick through it.**

**So... "See" you tomorrow, or the day after, or whenever me and my friend meet up on Skype.**

* * *

_It's getting dark_

Phil thought in a haze _Dan's going to be worried._

He looked around the gravelly pathway he was placed. His hand was throbbing painfully and his right eye was almost swollen shut. He looked down and gave himself a once-over. After the savage beating, his body was marked by cuts and bruises. His shirt had long been discarded by his tormenter and the ropes that were tearing up his wrists had been tightened to make sure he didn't try anything.

_I guess it means that it's futile doesn't it?_ Phil thought grimly while tugging uselessly at his bound limbs.

He wondered what Dan was doing now, where his captor was, if his parents were worried. His wonderings were cut short by the sound of footsteps on the gravel path, he considered calling out for help, well mumbling really since the gag that was tied around him prevented him from doing anything more than strangled noises. And there was a chance his captor could be back. Phil hoped that was not the case, someone would walk by and find him soon, he was outside after all.

But sadly, luck was never on his side and that day wasn't an exception. The fact that he was outside didn't help him because it looked like he was miles away from civilization and the main road that was in front of him looked like it hadn't been used in decades. The crunching footsteps getting closer alerted him to the fact that he was bound and useless. So Phil struggled, even though he knew that it was useless. He chewed at the gag, even though he wasn't able to chew through fabric.

All too soon Phil was engulfed in the looming shadow of his captor, Dan's father. The only part of him that phil could move was his head, which he turned to look up at the towering figure leaning over him. A sneer was plastered on his captors face "awake now are we?"

He grinned. Phil wasn't sure how to act so he just dropped his eyes; it was the wrong thing to do. "Look at me when i'm talking to you!" Dan's father yelled, following the yell up with a harsh slap to the face. It carried so much force the chair Phil was tied to fell over once again, crushing his already sore wrist again. Except this time against the stones. Phil let out a whimper as the stones dug into his skin; he twisted round to look at his captor. No hate in his eyes, just fear.

But the setting sun made it hard for Phil to do that. Because he was blanketed in a dark shadow and the splintering of the bones in his wrist were a constant, painful reminder that this was hell. But Phil didn't know why this was happening to him, so Phil foolishly stared at his captor straight in the eye.

This earned him a kick to the face, but Dan's father at least lifted him off the floor, brutally of course. "You're probably wondering why i'm doing this, aren't you." He crushed a few of the delicate toes on Phil's feet. Earning a scream in return. He lent in closer and Phil just noticed in his pain filled gaze, that he had a thick pad covering his eye. Dan's father then removed the gag over Phil's mouth.

All Phil could manage to do was nod. He didn't trust himself to speak. "Well" began Dan's father crouching down to take Phil's face in his hands "it's your entire fault. All of it!"

_All of it? All of what? _

Phil had no idea what the man was talking about so he kept silent, trying desperately to ignore the constant throbbing of pain in his wrist now coupled with that of the pain in his toes. "You, you little faggot, you turned my son gay, and you left me no choice but to kick him out!

And then my wife left me, all because you forced me to kick him out!" Phil had no doubt in his mind now that Dan's father was crazy. He wanted to say something, so he did "I didn't turn Dan gay" he said in a small voice

"What." The man deadpanned. Then he grew angry and grabbed the hair on the back of Phil's head in his grasp and pulled his head back, cracking his neck. "You should learn to respect your elders." he whispered in his ear. Then in a rage he ripped out the hair still firmly gripped in his hand and stalked off the ebony strands sticking out between his fingers.

Phil looked after him in disbelief; he had no idea what to make of the man. What was he going to do with Phil's hair? His head throbbed where the tuft had been pulled out, it had been taken right from the back of his neck and it had hurt. He wondered if by the end of this, if there was even going to be an end to this madness, whether there would be any part of him that didn't hurt. He doubted it.

* * *

Steven Howell was severely pissed off. After years of fighting, his bitch of a wife actually had the nerve to run out on him. All because his faggot son went away and moved in with that thing sitting in the chair back there. Looking down at his hand to see the black hairs clasped in there. Smirking, he looked up. He will make his boy pay for ruining his eye and he will make sure he suffers for it.

Oh yes, he will suffer. He slipped the tuft of the fag's hair in an envelope. His wife would pay too, in due course, but first Phil, even the name of that disgusting piece of trash made his insides boil, and then his son. He had been proud of his son, but as he got older he started to become more and more distant. Deep down Stephen had a feeling to what was going on, but he had tried to ignore it. There were obvious signs but he dismissed them, believing his son was above such disgusting atrocities. It seemed he wasn't though. And it was _all_ his fault.

And he will pay. _They will all pay _


	5. Reveal

**As you have probably noticed, we are doing this in a toggle-viewpoint mode (made that up myself) as in the viewpoint changes per chapter.**

**Enjoy once again~ (^.^)**

* * *

Dan woke up in a panic. This was not his bed, he wasn't in his room, and then he remembered, he wasn't sure he wanted to but he did. After several agonizingly long moments PJ had answered the door and welcomed in with open arms. If he was surprised by Dan's attire he hadn't shown it. Dan had wanted to go looking for Phil straight away but PJ had convinced him that he wouldn't be much use to Phil exhausted as he was, and kidnappers need sleep too. Reluctantly Dan had agreed to spend the night, sleeping in some borrowed pyjamas from PJ.

He was freezing cold, if not from the atmosphere but from the deep sense of loss echoing distantly in his chest. He shakily curled up into a ball but when that didn't help he untangled his limbs from his untidy ball and reached to lightly tap the clock. 4 AM.

Dan heaved a sigh and flopped back onto the bed. He looked to the side and almost screamed. But it was only PJ. He forgot that PJ only had one bed at his house. _Luckily PJ invested in one of those double beds._ Tired of trying to sleep, Dan sat up on the painfully soft bed and, with nothing else to do, look around the bedroom. But it was the same as it usually was. Sighing again, he got up and went up and out of the bedroom. Desperately trying to ignore the photo of the four of them. PJ, Chris, Phil and himself.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since his pitiful lunch yesterday; he decided to rummage around in PJ's kitchen for something edible. He didn't care what, he was devoid of feeling. He felt so empty. He tried to be as quiet as possible but he was no ninja and as he opened the cupboard door a waterfall of pots and pans cascaded over him. He heard mumblings from the bedroom and froze. Shit he thought, this must have woken PJ up! Miraculously the mumblings died down and PJ stayed fast asleep. He proceeded to sort through the pots and pans as quietly as he could.

Dan, thanking the lords for helping him out for once even if they did cause this in the first place, started mumbling under his breath about how big of a pain this was and was trying to arrange the pans in a neat fashion in the cupboard but was only succeeding in making a haphazard pile of sorts. Dan spied a camera in the deepest corner of the cupboard. This made Dan curious. So he reached in_._

_Behind the pans _he thought in annoyance as he moved his arm around the safety hazard and fumbled with the digital camera.

He tried to turn it on but nothing happened, he opened it up and discovered why: there was no battery. He considered putting it back, as this was a huge invasion of PJ's privacy, but curiosity got the better of him. He started rummaging around in all the other cupboards.

If the camera was hidden in one then the battery might be too. He was about to give up when his fingers closed around something small and hard. The battery! After one final debate with his conscience-one in which his conscience lost, badly-he put the battery in and switched it on again.

As he waited through the lengthy start up process, his foot started to tap impatiently. It was as if someone was trying to tell him that whatever was on this camera was important and he needed to see it. He looked at the darkness outside the window as if there was actually something there.

A beep alerted him to the load up process finishing and he looked down at the screen. He clicked the gallery and decided to flick through the images. _Oh look, it's me._ He thought happily. But as he flicked through the pictures of him were far more frequent than any of the others

As he continued to look through he got to the most recent photos, ones dated from yesterday. His mouth fell open in shock as he found some PJ must have taken while he was sleeping. None of them were dirty, they were just of him. Sleeping.

He got to the end of the reel and stood in a stunned silence. He was bought back to his senses when he heard the bed springs creak, he quickly removed the battery and _shit what cupboard was it in?!_

He took a random guess and then shoved the camera back behind the pots and pans. Only just managing to avoid sending them tumbling down on him again.

With a slam, he shut the cupboard on that little secret just as PJ sleepily stumbled into the kitchen. "Wazz wrong?" he yawned out. "It's only 4:30" Dan gaped at PJ, slightly reminding himself of a fish as he fumbled around for an excuse. "Uhh, I- I was uhmm thirsty..." he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. PJ only nodded, clearly too tired to care about Dan's poor excuse and shuffled back into the bedroom. As soon as PJ had left the room Dan bent over and gripped the counter until his knuckles turned white.

_What was going on?_ In the space of less than a day Dan's life had been turned upside down and wrung out like a wet cloth. He knew one thing for certain, he wasn't going to let his guard down around PJ, and he was definitely not going back to sleep any time soon.

He considered leaving now to look for Phil but in truth he needed PJ's help, he didn't know if he would have the guts to face his father alone. He was sure now that his father had been the one to kidnap Phil. He was also sure that Phil had been kidnapped. He didn't quite know how he knew. Let's call it lover's intuition.

_Heh, lovers_ Dan ran a shaky hand through his damp hair I kinda _like that thought_ he took his own advice and ran the tap to make himself a glass of water and downed it in one swallow. Some of the cool liquid escaped the glass and made little rivulets down his chin. Dan wiped his mouth on the sleeve of the borrowed pyjamas. He looked at the clock again. 5:00. he padded barefoot down to the sofa and collapsed down.

_Time sure is going by slowly without you, huh, Phil?_ Dan lifted his arm and placed it over his eyes.

* * *

He passed the time on his phone, borrowing PJ's charger, it was nearly dead after frantically checking it every few minutes in the police station yesterday but he didn't think PJ would mind. Minutes turned to hours as he scrolled through his Tumblr, constantly fidgeting: it was killing him sitting here doing nothing while Phil could be hurting, lost and alone.

As that thought ran through his head PJ put his head round the door, his hair still tussled from sleep. "Morning" he mumbled.

"Blimey PJ, I can smell the morning breath from here" Dan joked, trying his best to act as if everything was normal. Or as normal as it could be under the circumstances.

Unfortunately, his voice cracked while he was speaking and he looked downwards. As if his hands resting on his lap were the most interesting thing in the world.

"You alright Dan?" PJ asked. "Yeah, I-i'm just worried for Phil is all" "don't worry baby, were gonna get Phil back safe and sound" PJ bought him into a hug which, instead of comforting Dan, only made him more uncomfortable. Dan and PJ had always had a touchy feely relationship, PJ hugging him like this was nothing abnormal but after seeing those photos Dan couldn't help but wonder what was really going on in the mysteries of PJ's unfathomable mind.

Dan weakly pushed PJ away. "I'm not sure I want a hug right now, PJ."

"But why Dan? You're never one to break up hugs." Dan just replied.

"I don't think now is the right time, okay?" He smiled shakily. It was obvious to even an idiot that he was faking it. "Yeah, sure" PJ frowned, but it went by so quickly that Dan missed it. PJ looked around uncomfortably and suddenly grinned "you know what?" He jumped up to his feet, surprising Dan, "time for breakfast!" As if to escape the awkward situation, he rushed out.

Dan, at a loss for anything else to do, took a shower. he stepped out just as PJ was serving up scrambled eggs. PJ smiled as Dan walked in "mind if i borrow some of your clothes, i don't really wanna go back to the flat" Dan asked, he didn't really want to borrow PJ's clothes anymore but what choice did he have? "Sure" was all PJ said. Dan thanked him and rushed off to get changed. Making sure he shut the door properly.

* * *

Dan leaned up against the bedroom door still dressed in the towel he showered in. His previously wet back lent against the dry wood. Of course, he remembered to lock the door after him. There came a beeping from his phone on the dresser. Dan hobbled over to the device. It's Chris. Dan answered the phone and the familiar voice came over the speakers.

"Hey, Dan, you alright?" Dan felt the mask crumble on his face.

"_No"_


	6. Station

**Hello~ this chappie was a lot longer than I thought it would be but nevermind.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

Chris leant forward on the sofa. "What's wrong? You know you can tell me anything." Chris heard a sharp intake of breath but nothing else. "Come on, if it helps I won't tell Peej or anyone." Chris felt a painful pang in his chest at that. He always knew that his love for PJ was one-sided and that there was nothing he could do about it. "Chris, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Does PJ like anyone?"

Chris sputtered but he thought about this for a while, he liked PJ and he wished PJ liked him back but there was no way that would ever happen. He didn't even know if PJ was gay but he was pretty sure he was. Before his silence got suspicious he answered with "I haven't actually taken much notice, why?"

That was a blatant lie, he had noticed the way he looked at Dan, spoke about him constantly when they were together. "Well, it's just, umm, I found his camera and there was some stuff on it. Nothing dirty! Just..." he faltered and faded off. What was Chris supposed to say to that?

Chris frowned as he stood up "is it okay if you tell me?" He could almost hear the blush from the other end of the phone as Dan started mumbling and stuttering and fiddling with the cable. Slowly, Chris started to connect the dots. "Wait a second, you like PJ?" He asked, refusing to keep the hurt tone out of his voice. "No!" Dan practically screamed down the phone. "I could never do that, in fact I... think uhmm, relating to PJ, it's uhh... kinda the opposite"

"what do you mean?" asked Chris, genuinely relieved, there was at least some hope if Dan didn't like PJ back, he was assuming that was what 'kinda the opposite' meant anyway.

"About the photos. They were all of me soo.. I think... ehh, how do i say this? Uhmm... I think PJ likes... me. Instead." Chris felt his heart plummet to his stomach at that

He often wondered if he should have told PJ about his feelings, he had been so close so many times, but PJ had always switched the conversation back to Dan. Dan. Chris felt an uncontrollable hatred rise from a place within him that he didn't know existed. He dismissed it, it took a lot of effort but he ignored it. Dan was one of his best friends. "And umm… something else" cane a distant voice that nearly made Chris jump out of his seat: he had forgotten he was still on the phone "Phil's gone missing" "WHAT?" Chris cried out "and I was attacked. Last night. By my father." Chris was at a loss for what to say, he was still struggling to understand his predicament with PJ.

"That's it!" Chris exclaimed, putting on his shoes and coat and marching away from the couch. "Wha-what-" Dan struggled for words as the phone was put on speaker. "I'm coming over, whether you like it or not" he finished getting properly dressed and put the phone back to his ear. "But i'm not dressed!" Dan franticly yelled. "Then you better get dressed soon or i'm gonna be faced with a naked friend so, seeya." He hung up the phone and shoved it into the coat pocket. Chris opened the front door and let the cool air flood in.

PJ's house wasn't far and he honestly couldn't be bothered to drive this early in the morning. He thought maybe the walk would clear his head. It didn't.

* * *

He arrived at PJ's house barely presentable, he hadn't even had time to brush his teeth, and before he could even raise his hand to knock on the door it was yanked open by a very worried looking Dan "PJ doesn't know I know about the camera so don't mention it to him" he hissed, looking panicked. Chris couldn't blame him really; he could not even begin to comprehend what Dan was feeling right now. "Hi Chris" Dan then said cheerily, mostly for PJ's benefit.

A tousled head poked around the corner of the kitchen and into the hallway, it looked like he had just woken up even though Chris knew by heart that PJ was probably up half an hour ago. "Sup Chris" he smiled at him and it made his heart pang and hands fist. "Hi." He couldn't look PJ in the eye after what Dan had said. But he just did a quick once-over of Chris' attire and flitted back into the kitchen. Chris was suddenly yanked in by the frazzled Dan and the door shut behind him.

Dan looked bad. He just looked so drained, as Dan proceeded to give him a rundown of the previous night's events all Chris could think about was PJ. PJ. Why was he thinking about PJ? He should be worried about Phil, no matter what he felt for PJ one of his best friend's lives could be in danger. "Do you have any idea where Phil is?" asked Chris. Dan shook his head sadly. "You look like you've given up already! We are finding Phil and we are finding him now."

He grabbed the frightened Dan's wrist in one hand and a pegged jacket in another and pulled the young man out the flat and started a strict march down to the police station. "Hey! What are you doing? I haven't even got my coat and it's cold out here." Dan exclaimed and Chris tossed the coat to him without a pause and continued on their advance down the busy street.

Chris looked back as PJ shouted "Oi! Where you two going, leaving me alone like this?"

"We're going to report Phil missing, come with or don't hold us up any longer." Chris yelled back, not in an unfriendly way, he still loved PJ; he always had and always would.

They practically ran to the police station and burst through the doors, sweating and panting.

But by the time they arrived the station was a mess. Everyone was running around and talking loudly about some "kidnapping case"

_Kidnapping?_

They all thought frantically. All their thoughts went straight to Phil. Dan went up to the head desk "Tell me who was kidnapped" he demanded. The woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to disclose su-" "TELL ME!" Dan screamed to the woman's face. She looked him in the face and looked at her computer.

After a sigh she looked at Dan again and turned her computer screen to the boys as she said "there was an unknown sender that sent us a clump of hair from a boy that has been missing for 18 hours now. We have identified the boy as Phillip Lester and we have no leads."

Dan had no words. He sunk to the floor, PJ, Chris was quick to realise, went straight over to him to try and comfort him. Chris meanwhile went up to the lady at the desk and asked "no leads? no leads at all?" She shook her head. "Do you know him, or have any idea as to his whereabouts?" she asked, clearly desperate for even the slightest morsel of information that could help. "He's one of our best friends" Chris said looking down at Dan, he was more than just a best friend to Dan, that was obvious to anyone, anyone except PJ.

"Anything else about the kidnapper?" she leant forward on the desk. He looked down and started fiddling with his hands. "He said that..." He paused, looking at Dan, who was still on the floor. It wasn't his right to tell. And he was about to say that until a voice slurred thickly from the floor. "It was my father" he sniffed "I'm sure of it"

The woman looked down at him "do you mind if we take you in for questioning?" she asked, not unkindly. She could see what this was doing to Dan, Chris new Dan's dad was a homophobe but he never expected him to be capable of something like this.

"Will it help you find Phil?" Dan whispered so quietly even PJ, who was right next to him, had to strain to hear. The lady nodded and Dan got up slowly. A police officer who had been standing nearby took this as a signal to escort Dan to questioning. Dan turned and glowered at the man "not without Chris and PJ" he nearly snarled. Then to amend for that sudden outburst

"I just don't want to be alone"

"I'm sorry" the man said, not looking sorry at all. "Legal reasons." Dan looked back at Chris and PJ with a terrified look on his face. "Don't worry Dan, we'll still be here when you get out" Chris smiled. Dan didn't look convinced but went anyway. PJ looked at Chris angrily "what was that for? You could tell that Dan needs us to be there for him and you still made him go alone? That's a new kind of low for you Chris." Chris visibly flinched at this but turned to PJ anyway.

"Peej, I think we need to talk."


	7. Discover

**Hello~ My friend wants to put in her own little comment in, so here - **

**Don't forget to be awesome!**  
**The nerd fighters will know whats up.**

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**Goodbye~**

* * *

The cold man walked Dan to the interrogation room at a brisk pace and shoved him down roughly onto an uncomfortable wooden seat. He then left saying only "sit" which to Dan seemed a tad pointless since he was already.

Dan looked around the room; it was a box room, four stone walls, a stone floor and ceiling too with a singular light above the desk he was sitting at and a CCTV camera in the corner of the room. Dan looked at it, wondering who was watching him. It made him feel guilty and uncomfortable even though he was fairly sure he hadn't done anything wrong.

There was a long blackout window on one of the walls, which Dan was sure contained a few officers that were obviously looking straight at him. The man that brought him there sat down heavily at the other side of the table, as if he did this sort of thing every day. Dan decided to brave the man's silent presence and asked "when are we going to start?" The man just gave Dan a blank stare as he replied "we're waiting for someone" in a monotonous voice and he looked away again.

Dan just looked around, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with this fearsome man. After what seemed like an age of one of the most awkward silences known to man the door creaked open to reveal another officer, she sat down in the chair next to the big burly one whose name Dan did not yet know. "Could you take any loose items on your person and place them on the table please Mr..." she left the sentence hanging and Dan, grateful for any excuse not to sit in silence said quickly "Howell, Dan Howell."

"I assume that's short for Daniel, right?" after Dan nods she just laughed to herself. "Well that much is obvious, Mr Howell. My name is Ms Baker and this is my co-worker, Mr Jacobs, we're here to ask you a few questions. Is that okay with you?" Another nod. Ms Baker bared pearl white teeth and tilted backwards on her chair to retrieve some papers from the table behind her, one that Dan hadn't seen before. While Ms Baker was examining the papers, Mr Jacobs just stared at Dan with his ice blue eyes.

As soon as Dan registered Mr Jacobs' eyes his thoughts went straight to Phil, though their eyes were a similar colour his held none of the warmth or comfort that Phil's did, they were cold and heartless. Dan squirmed in his seat. "Uhh, sure" Ms Baker smiled and pulled a pen out of a very well concealed pocket Dan hadn't noticed before. "If you could give us your address and date of birth, and is Howell spelt with one l or two?" she asked. Dan answered, still trying to avoid the terrifying gaze of Mr Jacobs. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous

"I-I live on 7 Open Street, in London. Umm... I was born on June 11th 1991 and my... last name is spelt with two l's." Dan's speech was peppered with pauses and stutters. *I wish PJ and Chris are with me* he thought nervously *then this would be at least a little bit bearable.* "Ok, thank you for that, can you tell us if you know where Phillip Lester was headed on the morning of Friday the 11th and what your connection is to him?"

She flashed a small smile in his direction and her pink pen scribbled furiously against the papers so fast Dan thought they would rip.

"Yeah, umm Phil was going to visit his parents, we share a flat and the last time I heard from him was at the train station" Dan said in a rush. He just wanted to get this over with; these people were making him unbelievably uncomfortable.

"Is there anything else, relationship wise between you and Mr Lester?" asked the woman, she almost leered at him as if to say _'I dare you'_ Dan faltered. "I, uh, I- "

"Spit it out!" came the growling voice of Mr Jacobs.

As it was the first time that he had spoken since Ms Baker entered the room, Dan was shocked.

All of this pressure scared Dan and it made him loose his train of thought as he focussed on the wall behind the interviewers and blanked out. "Well?" An aggressive voice popped the trance-like state he was stuck in and Dan stuttered an answer out of his shaking mouth. "We're... just... friends" he managed to ground out, no matter how painful he thought it to be. It would only hurt him more if he said that they were lovers.

Mr Jacobs sneered, "Like hell you are" but they let it drop and the investigation continued, all the while Dan's heart was aching, he had denied his relationship with Phil

_Should he tell him? If they ever find him that is. NO! _he told himself.

_Don't think like that!_ Another question brought him back to reality "and when did you first realise Mr Lester was missing?" Asked Ms Baker. Dan thought for a minute, he didn't think he'd been this stressed in his life before. He chose his words carefully. He didn't know why he was reluctant to talk to the police, they were supposed to be helping him, it's just there two, they seemed so, so terrifying.

_She's actually scarier than he is._ He found himself thinking.

Dan wringed his hands together as he tried his hardest to make sure it ended as quickly as possible "I realised he was missing when I walked into the police station, but I had a feeling of it after the attack..." Dan's eyes widened as he watched both the investigators got interested and leant forward on their wooden seats. "What attack, Mr Howell?" Ms Baker said with a wide eyed expression. Even Mr Jacobs looked intrigued. "A few hours after Phil left, someone attacked the flat" Dan brought his hands up and ground them into his eyes, trying to stifle the tears that were trying to flow again.

"He was my father."

* * *

It was getting light again, Phil had been tied to the chair all night and now his joints were aching. He hadn't been able to move, let alone sleep, his wrist was throbbing with a dull and constant pain. He didn't dare look at it. His neck ached too, whatever time he had managed to drop off his neck lolled to the side and he woke up sore and tired. He was just thankful it hadn't rained.

The wounds where the ropes cut into his bare skin were open and scabbing over and he shivered. He was so cold. His already pale skin was turning bruised and had a blue tinge to it.

_If anyone's looking for me. Can you please, please hurry _and for the first time since he was captured. Phil cried.

He didn't care, tears may be a sign of weakness to some but he was beyond taking notice of what other people thought. The silent tears carved eternal trenches down his dirt and grime ridden face, making it obvious to anyone who saw that he was crying. Saw him, not heard him... For his tears were silent, they weren't tears of pain; they were tears of loss, fear, hurt. Throughout the entire night one thought had chased itself constantly around his head as he looked up at the slowly brightening sky. Dan. _Where is he now? Is he alright? _Phil hoped so: he didn't know what he'd do if he lost Dan.

If he got through this there would be no more hiding it. He loved Dan. And he would let the world know. And he wouldn't care what they say.


	8. Amend

**This chapter gave me so many feels... And it looks like we MAY be half way through~ Just a guess though. What a surprise.**

**Review please.**

* * *

PJ and Chris sat in the police station, busy officers whirling around them, not looking at them twice. To PJ everything was a blur, everything except Chris.

"Peej" Chris looked PJ directly in the eyes. "We need to talk" PJ sensed it was something serious, but what could be more urgent than the attack on Dan and Phil's disappearance?

So he voiced that thought and Chris looked down, breaking the lengthy eye contact as he looked at his lap. "To be fair, it does involve Dan. And it involves Phil as well... but it's more to do with you, PJ." Chris locked eyes with PJ again.

It reminded PJ of those old school movies where a man and a woman sit down at a table and the world around them freezes in time. But they weren't lovers and probably never will be.

PJ looked at Chris questioningly, inclining his head as a signal for Chris to continue. "I know you like Dan, everyone does" he began. PJ was shocked by this, had it been that obvious? He'd thought he'd done a rather good job of hiding it. "Dan knows as well PJ."

PJ's heart stopped, but the hope was what kept the blood pumping throughout his body "well? Does he like me too? I bet I was way too obvious, hey, I know, it would be great if we were a couple and we would eat ice cream together and everything." Chris drifted off. PJ was too consumed in his fantasies to notice the hurt that was so painfully written on Chris' face,

PJ looked at Chris expectantly, waiting for a response; Chris didn't trust himself to speak. He shook his head and looked at PJ one last time before getting up and speed walking off in a random direction. PJ was left sitting on the cold stone bench, alone and confused, the sea of officers still churning and milling around him. Moving faster and faster until he couldn't take it anymore.

PJ stormed up and out of his chair and went to the front desk to check up on Dan; to see how long it would take for it to be finished. But he wouldn't be out for another half an hour or so. So PJ paced it back to the seats but it looked like Chris wasn't back yet. _I have some time to waste_ PJ shrugged, and started making his way down to where Chris was headed.

He wondered what was up with Chris, why had he run off like that. After heading in Chris' general direction for a few minutes, which was hard considering there was a constant swarm of bodies pushing against him, PJ came across the toilets.

_Did Chris really need the loo that badly?_ Thought PJ. He shrugged and entered the bathroom to be greeted with the sound of muffled sobs.

PJ walked into the toilets to where he assumed Chris to be. "Chris, are you here?" there was the sound of a startled thump coming from the only occupied toilet. "It is you." He breathed out a sigh "Hey, come on out, buddy." When he received no answer, he leaned against the locked stall and slid down it. Until he was sitting down in front of it. "I know you're worried about Phil, we all are. But not letting me talk to you will achieve nothing."

"It's not Phil" came a choked voice from the cubicle. "What is it then?" asked PJ "is there something going on you're not telling anyone about?"

"I've told people about it" said Chris "just not you"

"Why not?" asked PJ _they were supposed to be best friends, why hadn't Chris told him_?

"Because I don't want to break your heart"

_Huh, my heart?_ Chris sounded like the one who'd had his heart broken.

"What? How would you break my heart? What could you do?" The stall door swung open. PJ fell through to land on his back and Chris' angry, tear streaked face loomed over him. "Are you an idiot?" He screamed "Dan doesn't love you the way you love him, he loves Phil! It's obvious!"

_What?_

"You never understand anything, do you?" He sat in front of the toilet and started pulling at his dark brown hair and PJ sat cross legged opposite. "You don't understand anything about how people feel. How _I_ feel." PJ got the message. But his face softened and he smiled. PJ opened his arms for a hug.

Chris accepted, if a little unwillingly. He was still shaking from sobbing. PJ couldn't believe he'd caused this. How could he have been so blind? This was definitely one of those 'should've gone to Specsavers' moments. He stroked Chris' shoulder, his ragged breathing slowly quieted as the sobs died away. PJ looked at Chris, his eyes were red from tears, his hair was tousled and his cheeks were shining.

"I understand how you feel Chris"

PJ pressed Chris' body closer to his and put placed a hand behind the other man's head. "And i'm sorry for doing this to you. I'm so, so sorry." They sat there, on the cold linoleum floor until Chris had long since fallen asleep.

There was a knocking on the bathroom door as Dan poked his head through the gap in the door. "The interviews done" he looked down to the sleeping Chris. "Do you want a hand?"

"Yes please" and so they manoeuvred Chris' immobile body onto PJ's back and made their way out of the station and to the street.

They agreed to go back to PJ's house, since it was nearest. PJ carried Chris all the way there, he was pretty sure he had woken Chris up a few times, but Chris didn't seem to mind; he just snuggled into PJ's back, smiling slightly.

Once they got in PJ deposited Chris on the sofa, arranging him into a comfortable position, his idea of one anyway. Chris mumbled as PJ untangled his arms from around his neck. PJ just smiled. Dan stood nearby looking fidgety.

"Dan, a-"

"I'm sorry!" Dan blurted out after cutting PJ off. His eyes widened slightly at the unexpected move but smirked slightly. "It's nothing, Dan, I've moved on" he cast a fond look at the body slumbering on the sofa. Dan opened his mouth but closed it after PJ raised his finger to silence him. "And don't worry about the photos, i'll delete them. I have better memories to fill that camera with. Memories of all of us. When we find Phil. And I assure you, we will, we go out and make memories that no-one will forget." PJ opened his arms for a second hug and welcomed the sobbing Dan into them.

PJ felt like crying too, but he didn't, he stayed strong for Dan. He hoped Phil was staying strong too, wherever he was. PJ didn't want to think about how Phil was holding up, what could've happened to him; he just hoped it wouldn't be too late by the time the police got there.


	9. Laughter

Dan and PJ were sitting at the breakfast bar talking in whispers while Chris slept soundly on the sofa, lost in his faraway dream land. Dan didn't hold anything against PJ, in hindsight he probably should've told him about him and Phil but he had already told so many people, he didn't want to risk it getting out. Besides, he was too preoccupied with Phil's disappearance to feel anything other than worry at this point in time.

Dan was holding a warm cup of tea clasped between his hands and was beginning to abashedly explain what happened. When PJ asked when Dan first realised his feelings for Phil. "I first realised them when I was in the station, before I went to yours and I was fed up with the police taking so long." He gripped the mug tighter in his grasp. "I-I felt a tightening in my stomach and... it made me want to break down."

Dan had never admitted this to anyone, he supposed it made sense to tell PJ, he was one of his best friends after all, but the person he really wanted to tell was Phil. He voiced this thought to PJ. "Well then, we are going to find Phil and tell him this and watch his heart explode because i'm damn sure he feels the same way, if the police don't make a move soon we will, coz our best friend is in danger and what sort of friends would we be if we didn't help him?" At PJ's words Dan's heart soared

He smiled brightly, but there was a sudden wetness on his cheeks. He opened his eyes and touched his face in wonder. The tears were slowly crawling to his chin and dropped into his cup of tea. "Hey Dan, you still okay?"

"I can't, I-I don't know." He really didn't. "So much has gone on these past few days, my mind, it just can't handle it." PJ nodded understandingly. Dan made no attempt to wipe the tears away, for some reason he felt no embarrassment crying in front of PJ.

Chris' head popped up from the couch, his hair even more tousled than it had been his eyes still droopy from sleep. "Sup" he muttered before flopping back down on the couch.

A thump was heard and soon the soft snoring started up again. This made Dan and PJ giggle a bit. That turned to full-fledged laughter as their tea was soon forgotten. Chris let out a muffled "whaaatt?" from the sofa, which only made the two at the table laugh even harder. Soon Chris started chuckling and laughing as the whole house started pelting out the beautiful sound at full volume.

It was nice, Dan thought, not to have to be worried; he felt like he'd almost forgotten how to relax. He still had no idea what to do about his father, his friends didn't seem to realise that after Phil his father would come for him. He continued to laugh, keeping up his happy exterior; he didn't want to spoil the mood for Chris and PJ. They deserved to be happy and Dan didn't want to be the one to bring them down.

Dan looked out the window, seeing the sun set on Phil's second day in hell. Or so he assumed.

* * *

I sat waiting, watching, and wondering. The sun was coming up, shining through the mould encrusted window that was the only light source in the room. Since this station has been abandoned for so long the lights have long since blown their fuses. I decided not to fix it, I can't leave any traces that I was here should the police find me. That shouldn't happen though. I've been planning this for so long now. I know exactly how things are going to go down: the way I want them to.

I crack my knuckles as I head out the room. "Ahh, bright outside" I say, mostly to myself. I mean, there's no other human around, not for miles. I wipe the crust from my eyes as I walk down the deserted halls. It's so quiet here. You know what? I should check to see if it hasn't died yet.

I begin my march, being sure to take a different route from last time, just in case anyone is watching me. After ten minutes or so i come across the clearing I left it in, it's still there, that... _abomination _the thing that ruined my life.

It hasn't seen me, and if it has it's doing a very good job of pretending it hasn't. It's not looking too worse for wear, that'll son change though. I will make sure it feels as much pain as it caused me and more. i will make it scream until it's lungs bleed, cry until it has no tears, beg for mercy until it can beg no more. I will destroy it, the abomination.

"Hello~" I smile, as if that'll work with that thing. Its head turned sharply. "Did you enjoy yourself?" I saunter over, and grin as i saw the terror in its eyes. I go to check the ropes and laugh a little. The little bugger tried to chew through.

"Don't you know that it's useless?"

A punch.

"I expected better of you."

A kick.

"I wonder..."

A pause. I look over to see that he's knocked out.

"It's a shame it has to be this way"

I set to work replacing the frayed ropes with new ones-I did not want to take any chances-and added a few bruises to his collection. After a few minutes I surveyed my handiwork, he was bound and immobile, he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Except perhaps the train tracks. That wouldn't happen until Daniel got here though. I have no doubt in my mind that Daniel will come looking, that little fag could never keep his nose out of anything, and when he does, i'll be ready.

He started to stir, had it been that long, I thought I'd knocked him out pretty good, oh well, I'd done what I needed to do. A rumbling came from his stomach before he had even properly opened his eyes. It looked at me. His wide eyes begged for mercy, he was playing the pity game, well; he'd get no pity from me. A low rasp of "water" was all that he said.

Regretfully I reached into my supply bag and bought out a bottle. If I could I'd let him die of dehydration, as it stands I need to keep him alive, just long enough for Daniel to get here. Sauntering over to him I popped the cap of the bottle and, without warning, upended it in his mouth and squeezed. He spluttered. I just grinned. "You wanted water" I said. "Don't ask for it if you don't want it Phillip."

I collected the ropes that that bastard had tried to chew through and held them at eye level. It still had dried blood crusted on it, though it was slightly damp from the water. Watching them swing back and forth, I look at the panting and wheezing body that still in the chair_._

_Let's continue the little game we're playing, Daniel._

I held the ropes at my side and start the walk back to my room.


	10. Find

**Longest Chapter Yet! We're actually quite proud of this one. We included some OC's of ours and there will be a side story centered around them at a later date. Please don't bash the names. We made them up on the spot and they... kinda grew on us.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

Phil watched as Dan's father walked away, his feet crunching on the frosted ground. The sun was starting to set and as a result it was getting colder. If Phil thought he was cold before he had an entire bottle of water upended over him then he was sub-zero now. Already he was shivering uncontrollably; he could barely hear himself think over the chattering of his teeth.

_At least I won't die of dehydration now._

But that optimistic thought was dwarfed in compared to all his problems. With his temperature dropping like the sun in the darkening sky, he'd be lucky if he didn't get hypothermia. And the cold was only making the pain on his body intensify. His broken toes were screaming at him and the throbbing wrist was pulsing and burning. It had swollen to twice its normal size and pressing against the already tight ropes.

Despite all these distractions and preoccupations he wondered why. Of course deep down he knew why, Dan's father was a homophobe. In this day and age Phil didn't think he knew anyone that close-minded but evidently he was wrong. People like Dan's father were living proof of that.

He watched as the sun dipped below the horizon line, and suddenly it felt like all the light had gone out from the world. Phil closed his eyes and did whatever he did when he was scared, lonely, sad or worried: _just think happy thoughts_ And so he did, well not thoughts, just one: Dan.

Phil decided to make a pact with himself, when he saw Dan again, he refused to believe he wouldn't, he would tell him what he meant to him, he would tell him that he didn't care what Dan's father thought, he would tell him how happy he was with Dan, he would tell him that he loved him.

Phil's heart ached just thinking of Dan. He was unsure whether or not his parents would approve but that was hardly a pressing matter right now. He just wanted to see Dan. His mind kept bringing up images, memories, sounds. Later Phil would realise that the only way he had gotten through this terrible ordeal was by remembering all the good times, all the good things with and about Dan.

The fun they had making videos, his dimples when he smiled, the sound of his laugh, sweeter than any song Phil had ever heard. Even though Dan wasn't there with him he still helped him through the pain and fear. He was there, watching over Phil, making sure he was alright. Just by knowing Dan was safe, Phil felt safer too.

And as Phil slowly started to drift off in a cold, restless sleep, his thoughts were plagued by thoughts of Dan and the beating in his ears slowed down.

* * *

The music was pounding and the windows open. We were singing, practically screaming, the song at the top of our lungs. But can you really blame us? We're fresh out of Uni and i'm allowed to drive without an adult at my side. We were ecstatic, and looking for a place to party, drink booze and tell drunken stories about what we'll do in the future. My girlfriend was sitting in the seat next to me. Grinning and singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody with me.

One of my mates was leaning out of the sunroof, screaming at the top of his lungs. Why? Because he could. He was also directing us; the windscreen was a bit dirty so we needed someone who could see clearly. He ducked his head back in the car to talk to us without shredding his vocal chords. "Take a left up there, there's a secret grove I used to play in when I was a kid. There's no one around so we can have music LOUDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" he yelled the last part, going on for a while; we all joined in and burst into laughter. I had to swerve the car because I almost missed the turning.

We skidded and almost went onto two wheels. But, thanks to my awesome driving skills, all five of us made it round the corner intact. We speeded along the beaten path with the car shuddering and rattling with every rock and pothole. The Queen Song had ended and I quickly switched it to another.

_This'll work_ I thought, as Midnight Queen by Nickleback started throbbing out the speakers. The headlights of the car illuminating the path eerily, completely different to the song playing. "Oi, stop the car and turn the music off for a sec." My mate called out to me.

The car groaned in unison, everyone says Nickleback are awful but we love them. "Way to kill the song, dude" my girlfriend said. "Na mate, look, there's a dude over there, in the clearing." I turned off the stereo and we all got out.

The figure was bathed in shadow; he looked to be sitting down though we were too far away to know for sure. We edged closer, unsure how to act around this unknown entity. He could be a crack head for all we knew. Though we liked to party we knew enough to stay away from drugs.

"H-hey" my girlfriend started tugging at my sleeve "we should head back, who knows what that is." She looked really worried. But I kissed her forehead and ruffled her hair. "Nah, I can't do that. What if it's someone who's in trouble? And besides, look at these muscles, whoever that is wouldn't be able to hurt me if they tried."

She giggled; she looked so cute when she did that. My friends all hung back, the party atmosphere had died on its arse as soon as I decided I should go and see who this dude was.

After edging forward slowly and quietly, so as to make sure I didn't startle the guy, I finally got close enough to see his face. I almost recoiled in shock. He looked terrible, there was blood all over his bare chest, though I couldn't tell where it was coming from, and it looked as if he was frosty. I tapped him on the shoulder as he seemed to be asleep. His head jerked up "please don't hurt me again" he rasped. Confused I asked "why would I do that?" Then I mentally kicked myself. _What sort of question was that?_ it was pretty obvious that something was going on, so I asked what.

"Mate, what happened?" I crouched in between his legs and frowned when I saw the ropes binding his enflamed wrists to the hard wood of the chair. "Please... help me... before he comes back." His swollen eyes were pinched shut and his body was shuddering violently. I pressed my hand against his forehead and recoiled at the wet, cold temperature. "Shit, guys! Help me out here!" I tried pulling at the ropes but they here held tight. "And bring your Stanley knife as well!"

Together we helped untie the dude. As soon as the last rope was severed he fell off the chair face forward into the ground. He looked so pitiful. My mate and I picked him up and helped carry him back to the car. "Should we call the police" one of my other mates asked. I considered for a moment, the dude had said the guy who did this to him could come back; I did not want to be there when that happened. "Nope, we need to get the hell away from here before we end up like this guy, we'll call the police on the way to the hospital." That was our destination now, I was surprised this guy wasn't dead already, the way he was shivering on the back seat, and you'd have thought he had just been bathing in ice

He was sprawled across the laps of my mates as i yelled to the back. "Hold on tight!" I floored it as my girlfriend's white knuckled grip tightened on the arm rest.

_Come on, come on, come on..._ I willed the old jeep to go faster as its tired engine whined in protest. _Nonononono_, _don't die on me now_ I let of the accelerator as its tiny wheels sped along the country roads.

The dude looked tired, one of my mates reckoned we should let him sleep, I agreed but we needed to find out a bit more about what happened first so I asked him "what's your name?" He looked up at me, bleary eyed, "Phil, Phil Lester." His voice was horse, and he looked like he was about to pass out. If he had looked tired before those three words had taken all the energy he had left, which obviously wasn't much to begin with.

"Okay, Phil, everything is gonna be alright. Okay? My name's Mike but everyone calls me Hamster. This is Jessie and the people you're lying on are Seth, Joe and Squirrel, and don't ask how we got those names." Throughout the speech my eyes never left the road and the city light started blinking into focus. "That's the hospital" Jessie cried.

We pulled up, I parked in an ambulance spot but right now I honestly gave no fucks. Seth and Joe managed to half drag half push Phil out of the car, only slightly skinning his arse on the tarmac. Jessie and Squirrel went ahead to the front desk and I went to find a better spot to park the car.

I searched the car park but it seemed that every spot near the entrance was taken. I tapped my hand consistently against the fabric of my jeans and groaned, annoyed. "Oh, come on." I moaned to myself. I wanted to see if that dude was okay. And, as if by magic, a car right by the entrance moved out of the space. I sped, too fast to be legal, to the meagre opening and managed to park the car, get out and lock it without injury.

Wouldn't matter too much even if I did sustain injury, I am right outside a hospital anyway. I jogged back to the hospital to find all four of my mates sitting in the waiting room. "Where is..."

"He's gone into the emergency ward; they don't know how long he was out there so they need to check a few things." Jessie informed me. I nodded and sat down between her and Squirrel and waited. I looked around the room; hospitals were such a miserable place. No one seemed to be smiling and the atmosphere in here was worse than my Nan's 80th birthday party last year.

After half an hour of nothing something finally happened. Three guys burst through the glass doors of the hospital entrance, looking very worried and very out of breath.

One stood out the most to me. For one he already had tears streaming out his eyes, secondly he was yelling at the secretary.

_The poor woman_

And lastly... he looked familiar. I didn't know why. I wanted to go up to him to ask him what's wrong but Squirrel fell asleep on my shoulder and Jessie, on my lap.


	11. Squirrel and Hamster

**Sorry about the massive wait. So we prepared a side story for you. We have reasons though. day 1) Parents evening. day 2) Friend had Black Veiled Brides concert. day 3) I went round a friends house overnight. during the time slot that we usually write in.**

* * *

The rain was pounding heavily; Jack has crouched on a branch, the leaves doing nothing to prevent the rain from falling onto his head. He didn't care though. He had stopped caring weeks ago. He let the rain fall on him, it was comforting in a way, it made him feel like he was affecting something else, even something as insignificant as a droplet of water.

It's useless he thought. He had been carted off to care homes all over the county, but none of them had been able to handle his violent mood swings. Or figure out why he was seemingly so dependent on that old, black tail coat that was way too big for him. The funeral was ages ago yet Jack still felt like garbage, so he curled up into a tight ball and started to cry.

He had no idea how long he had been crying on top of that tree. He didn't even have any idea what was tears or what was rain anymore.

Once the rain stopped he poked his head through the leaves and surveyed the graveyard around him. His granddad's grave was directly below the tree. A final tear ran off his cheek and fell onto the white marble grave, merging with the still water remaining on the stone.

Jack stretched his legs and prepared to drop from the tree he was sitting on. But Jack saw a short boy around his age wander down town the path in his peripheral vision. Not wanting anyone to see him cry, Jack curled back into his ball and watched the brown - haired boy intently.

"Hey, Dad"

The boy crouched down by a gravestone directly next to Jack's granddads, it was a lot older than his granddads brand new one, this one, the boy's father presumably, had cracks and ivy growing up the side and on the top.

He leant forward on his perch, his right arm tightly gripping the branch above him in an attempt to see the other boys face. He couldn't tell why but he was intrigued by this tiny fellow. But in a sudden gust of wind, the tree swayed dangerously and Jack fell, crashing through the branches.

A scream escaped him as he fell. The boy below only had the time to look up and see a falling object, wrapped up in a massive black cloth. In a tumble of bodies they collided, both falling to the muddy ground in a mess of limbs and fabric. Jack heard a snap and a crack as his arm made contact with the old gravestone, then felt a sharp burst of pain in the area. He let out a gasp at the unexpected injury and bit his lip, not wanting the other boy to think he was weak.

* * *

As Mike disentangled himself from this soft, black mass that suddenly fell on top of him, he asked it. "Were you spying on me?" he pouted and watched as the other boy unwravelled himself from his massive coat. He shook his head quietly while biting his lip.

They both stumbled to their feet, the boy almost slipped over in the mud that now coated both of them from head to foot, but he caught himself on Mike. Mike was all set to be mad at this kid, he had just fallen on him and nearly crushed him, but then he saw his face. He looked so sad.

So Mike grabbed the boy's arms in an effort to look him in the eye but was soon cut off by a scream coming from the other boy's mouth.

Mike quickly let go "what's wrong?" he asked, confused and a little scared at the reaction. "m-my arm" the boy stammered "it's changed shape" The boy pulled back the massive black cloak? It looked sort of like cloak, like those ones with the two trails of material posh men wear to weddings, like tails. That's what it was! a tailcoat! Under the cloak the boy revealed his arm; it was going in a different direction. "Cool, how did that happen?" Mike asked, amazed. _I wonder if I can get my arm to do that, everyone at school would think i'm so cool!_ "I don't know, but it hurts. I think I broke it."

* * *

The lights in the hospital were bright and they hurt jacks eyes. He looked around and all he saw was white, he supposed it ought to look clean but it didn't really. This wasn't a very nice place, and it smelt funny. But the doctors were nice, they had fixed his arm because it wasn't supposed to do that and put a big white solid plaster all over it. They had told him he could decorate it with anything he wanted if his parents let him. His parents.

He looked down. Parents. He huffed and jumped down from the hospital bed and padded down the halls in search of the short boy and his tailcoat, swinging the heavy lump of white backwards and forwards. Jack stopped at the end of the pristine hall to peer round the corner. There was a woman filling in a form at the counter in the entrance hall. He went to walk forward but caught himself on the wall. "Oof!" he landed with a puff. Bringing the attention of everyone. Including the woman.

Jack saw the short boy's head pop out from behind the leg of the woman, he looked concerned and was about to help when another boy Jack's age appeared at his side. The boy had brown hair and eyes and as he smiled while bending down to help jack up dimples appeared in both his cheeks. Jack thanked him and introduced himself, as did the boy, who was called Dan. The man and woman, whose attention had been focused on him just a moment ago, had seemingly decided that Jack was not hurt and turned round, ushering the short boy away.

Jack saw the short boy sulk towards him and Dan, with his eyes down and hands behind his back. When he reached them he looked away, then back at him and looked down again. "M-my" he swallowed nervously "My name's Mike." Jack and Dan looked at the squirming boy and Dan giggled, making both of the boys look at him in shock. "Doesn't he remind you of a hamster?" Jack looked at Mike and spluttered out a laugh, making Mike pout. "I'm not a hamster!" he yelled. Dan placed his hand on the younger boy's head and ruffled the hair. Jack stuck out his non-broken arm for a shake, and Mike brought his hand forward and clasped it.

"Jack"

"Mike"

They stood like that for a while until the woman who Mike was hiding behind came up next to them and put a hand on each of their heads. "I'm glad you seem to be getting along" she swung her hair over her shoulder. "Because you two are going to be brothers."

Jack looked up at the woman, confusion written all over his face. "Wha..?"

"The hospital knows about your parents, we overheard and decided we would take you in, if you'd like. My name's Eleanor and this is my brother, Jamie. Our son, Mike offered to share a room with you" Jack was overwhelmed. These people were offering him a home. He hadn't had one of those in so long. "You'd let me live with you, even though you don't know me?" Eleanor smiled and nodded. "The doctors say you have to stay overnight though, but we'll be here in the morning waiting for you." Jack smiled; he didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything.

"Oh!" She scuttled back to the desk in a hurry and started rapidly talking with the woman at the counter, with the three boys looking on in confusion and Jamie just shaking his head sadly. She rushed back in record time and handed Jack a thick black coat. "Here, you were wearing it when you came in so, you must like it a lot. I know I wouldn't like to lose an awesome tail coat like this!" she presented it proudly in her hands to the shell-shocked boy.

Jack took the tailcoat, flustered but grateful. The hospital hadn't washed it yet and he was glad, it still smelled like his granddad. It was large enough for him to fit it on himself even with the caste and as soon as he had it on he smiled, feeling infinitely more comfortable. It even made the pain in his arm go away a little. His granddad was always good at making the pain go away.

* * *

Squirrel looked up at the ancient tree, it had stood in the graveyard for as long as he could remember and long before that. He extended his hands and jumped, settling expertly on a branch several feet above the ground. Hamster looked up, slightly envious; he could climb trees but nowhere near as good as Squirrel could.

Squirrel peered down at hamster's jealous face and laughed at it. He stuck out a hand for him and went to pull him up. "So, when's Dan coming?" he asked his friend as he pulled him up. "He said that he'd come in ten minutes, he just had to sort something out." Squirrel nodded in affirmation. He reached up and grabbed the next hanging branch. "Did he say what that something was?" he asked while heaving himself up. "No." Hamster frowned.

"You really are a squirrel aren't you? Firstly, you climb trees like one and secondly, you hide nuts in your room." Squirrel barked out a laugh "says the one who stuffs his cheeks full of food whenever you eat. And those nuts keep away spiders!"

"That's conker's you idiot!"

"You're the idiot, idiot" Hamster laughed. "What sort of comeback is that?" Squirrel clutched his sides. Hamster always managed to make squirrel smile, as did Dan. He always felt happiest when the three were together. Which they always were, sometimes it felt to Squirrel that the only good memories he had were of the three of them, right from that day they met in the hospital, up to now, and forever after now, he hoped.

"Hey, what're you two laughing at?" the looked down to see Dan's smiling face below them and before Squirrel could answer Hamster yelled down. "We're yelling at Squirrel's obsession with nuts - Ow." He looked up to see Squirrel throwing a nut up and down in his hand higher up. "Do you want Dan to know what you do to conquer your little height problem?" Hamster started crawling up the tree. "Noooo, don't do it Squirrel or i'll never let you borrow my DVD's again." he whined. Dan just chuckled at the performance above him and started making a move to follow.

Dan settled in the tree, which took him a while since he was lo-riding and his jeans were preventing him from climbing easily. It seemed Dan was destined to lo-ride forever: he refused to pull his jeans up for anything. Once he had gained a perch squirrel continued to poke fun at Hamster "it's not my fault i'm so short!" he whined. "I know, and wearing tall hats doesn't make it any less obvious that you are." He mock whined back at him.

"Hey!" Hamster started battering squirrel but squirrel danced away to another branch, he did it so effortlessly, and hamster just scowled. Dan couldn't help but laugh

"Oh, yeah!" Hamster turned around in the middle of tugging on the tails of Squirrel's coat, doesn't mean he stopped. "You said that you wanted to tell us something. So, shoot." Hamster flopped down on the branch opposite, Squirrel next to him. The leaves were whistling around them and there was a sombre silence. There hadn't been one this long since they were nine.

Hamster turned and looked intently at Dan. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked, concerned. Dan didn't look right, his eyes were red and he just looked... sad. "uh, yeah, it's just, um" Dan fumbled for words, unsure how to say what it was he needed to say, he didn't want to say it, but he had to.

"You know you guys are going to Highlock next term, well I… um I got accepted into Rowhurst." Hamster looked at him and then at Squirrel. "That's great!" he beamed.

"You don't get it do you?" The duo just stared at him blankly. "Me getting accepted into Rowhurst means that i'll be moving further north, and we'll probably never see each other again." He started shaking, obviously holding back tears. "Now whose the idiot?" Squirrel flicked him in the head_. _

_Huh?_ It was Hamster's turn to speak then. "It's not like that'll ever happen. Okay. Next summer, promise you'll come meet us by this tree. Nowhere else. Got it?"

Dan smiled, grateful that his friends were so determined to remain friends, and also grateful that they didn't care that he was going to a 'posh boy' school. "Thanks guys, you have no idea how much i dreaded telling you this." Dan looked down, not wanting to look them in the eye encase he started crying again. "We'll wait here every day for you for half an hour." Squirrel promised, Hamster nodding enthusiastically beside him. Dan grinned, and bought them into a very awkward tree hug.

"Yeah, seeya"

But that summer, Dan never came. Not the summer after, nor the one after that. Eventually Squirrel and Hamster felt that Dan had just forgotten about their promise under the old Oak tree and went to start a new life.

* * *

And start a new life he had, Squirrel and Hamster watched as he ran through the doors to ER, panic written all over his face. "Was that...?" Squirrel left the question pending "I think it was" "should we follow" Hamster shook his head. "No, let's let him adjust for a bit, it must be pretty shocking to find your friend this way." "I think they're more than friends Ham" Hamster looked at him quizzically. "Never one for noticing the subtle things are you Ham?"

Hamster looked back at him and sighed, his fingers running through Jessie's hair. "I have to give you that one mate; you were the one that told me to go out with Jess." The secretary pointed over in the trio's direction, Seth and Joe had gone home, and Dan with his friend's came towards them slowly. "Do you think he'll recognise us?" Hamster asked. "Probably not, we've changed a lot more than he has. You know with puberty and all that?" Hamster just looked at him. "Nice, dude." then he looked ahead at the three figures making their way towards them. "Let's call each other by our given names. It'll be easier on Dan and us if he just forgot that promise we made." Squirrel just looked at him for a moment before nodding the affirmative.

"I agree... Mike"

"Yeah... Jack"


	12. Friends

Dan skidded up to the desk "Phil Lester" he panted, he had considered just running into the hospital and opening every door until he found him but this way was probably simpler, probably. His stress riddled mind couldn't really tell. The woman at the desk scrolled through the data achingly slowly. Dan had to restrain himself form yelling obscenities at the woman and demanding that she hurry up. He just wanted to see his friend again; he just wanted to see Phil.

"Ahh, Phillip Lester, and Age: 26 DOB: 01/30/87 is that correct?" Dan nodded franticly "I'm sorry but he is in the Intensive Care Unit and will not have any visitors at the moment" and when Dan looked like he was about to protest, the elderly lady interrupted "it's company policy. I can't do anything about it." She looked around for a bit after Dan and his friends didn't move, before settling on the trio sat at the side. "I can direct you to the people who brought him in though. They must've been worried because they've been sat there for hours."

Dan supposed it was reasonable that he wasn't allowed to see Phil, but that didn't men he wasn't any happier about it. He looked at Chris and PJ before nodding, whoever these people were he owed them so _so_ much for bringing Phil back to him. The woman pointed to a group situated in the corner, they looked roughly Dan's age and there was something slightly familiar about them, he couldn't place it. This feeling continues to niggle at him as he walked toward the group, with Chris and PJ in tow, intending to thank them.

Well, he says group. There were only three of them but, judging by the empty seats next to them, there must've been more. But that nagging feeling only grew as he walked towards them and the details grew more distinct. One was notably taller than the other and had mousey blond hair styled into a Mohawk. He was wearing a weird tailcoat that clinged to his muscled frame.

The other smaller one was sitting next to him, his dirt brown hair falling into his eyes, he was eating a lollipop, Dan wasn't sure if you were allowed those in a hospital but who really cared? The smaller one looked a lot like a hamster, the lollipop only enforcing that mental image as it was outlined in his cheek. The final person was a girl who looked like she just woke up; she sat next to the lollipop boy, their fingers intertwined. Dan guessed they were together.

They didn't seem to look up as he approached, Chris and PJ hung back, not wanting to seen too intrusive. Dan cleared his throat to gain their attention. "Hey" He started "thanks for-" He cut himself off, he looked at the two guys, _really_ looked.

_Could it be them? Surely not?_ He didn't think his mind could take any more shock. At a loss for something to lean on he sat down heavily on the ground, shaking slightly. "Dan" PJ called "are you okay?"

Dan shook his head, as if eradicating those images, and accepting the help up. he knew those two, they always addressed each other by their nicknames no matter the situation, and he couldn't remember their real names but the people sitting in front of him with the worried expression on their faces definitely weren't them. They were too big, the hamster lookalike and the tailcoat? A coincidence.

"So, err, yeah" he continued once he was on his feet again "you guys saved my friend Phil, i'm Dan by the way, and I just wanted you to know how grateful I am to you, so yeah, thank you" He smiled, confused when he didn't get a smile back from either of the guys. "It's fine really" the girl said "what sort of people would we have to be to find him and not help him?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right" Dan grinned, so happy that Phil was safe.

The girl stuck out her hand and waited for him to take it. When he hesitated she just rolled her eyes and gripped the larger hand. "It's called a handshake, when someone does that; they want to get to know you. My name's Jessie. This is my boyfriend..." she looked to the duo next to her and, seeing their warning looks, continued. "This is my boyfriend Mike and our mate Jack." PJ and Chris reached forward and the boys took the hands offered. "PJ" "Chris" they nodded in reply.

Dan looked around, unsure of what to say, so he decided against saying anything. His mind was too exhausted to think rationally anyway.

After a few moments of awkward silence they bid their farewells and went to sit in another part of the waiting area. Dan collapsed in a chair, more tired than he had previously believed himself able to be. His mind, though dreary, was still able to drag up the memory of that summer, the summer he had waited all day for his best friends, who never showed up.

* * *

He had been sitting there for hours. The wind was especially strong today and he couldn't wait to tell his best friends about how many new people he had met, and about his first girlfriend. He rubbed his hands across his windswept face and leant back against the hard tree. Playing with the flowers planted around the edges of the marble grave. _Ahh, it's a good life_. He thought, he was a bit exited and arrived a few hours early so that would explain why his friends hadn't arrived yet. Dan was tired as well, he couldn't sleep the night before but, that wouldn't matter. He looked up at the old tree as an idea came into his head. _This'll be fun _he climbed as quickly as he could up the tree and hid up there, in the branches.

He plan formed in his mind, to his 12 year old self it seemed rather _devious i'll hide up here, jump them, and scare the living daylights out of them._ He nodded to himself, yawning slightly. He adjusted his position so there wasn't a branch digging into his leg, and began peeling the bark off said branch in an attempt to keep boredom at bay

Up in that tree the wind seemed that much stronger, the leaves protected him from it but it made a nice gentle rocking. It was relaxing and the branches mostly obscured his view of the ground. It was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes open and there was a nagging feeling at the back of his head saying that he could be missing something important. But he dismissed it, it's not like his friends might not see him.

After all, Hamster's sight was amazing. He let the swaying of the branches carry him off to sleep, aware of it and not at the same time.

He jolted awake with a start, almost falling out of the tree; he regained his balance and went to check his watch. His wrist was bare, that's when he remembered his mum had made him leave it at home, she knew they would be climbing trees and she didn't want it damaged.

She didn't want her son damaged either but there was no way she would stop him and his friends climbing. No one could. Dan shrugged, it couldn't have been that long, the sun was still in the same place, and at least he thought so. He perched on the branch, determined this time to stay awake and pounce them.

But he was waiting for too long and he decided that they just forgot about him.

_Some friends they are._


	13. Dreaming

Phil lay on the hospital bed, not mooing much. His body was too exhausted to be able to afford t waste any precious energy on movement. Phil sighed in his sleep, contented. His subconscious knew he was safe, and warm, and healing. Finally. He dreamed of dreamy things, of memories and doughnuts and lions and other insignificant wonderful things. One thing that recurred in his dreaming was Dan. His eyes shone like a beacon in the hazy dream world, Phil was drawn to them, they sucked him in he walked closer.

There was a lion walking on one side of him and a lioness on the other. The lion turned to him, shook his fluffy mane and tilted his head. "Do you want a ride?" Phil nodded enthusiastically and the lion lied down in order to make it easier for Phil to get on.

Phil seated himself on the broad back of the lion, winding his fingers into its mane, it jumped with a pounce and they were flying, the lioness right behind them. Phil looked down to the ground but there wasn't one, he clung onto the lion a tiny bit tighter and sensed him grin. They continued upwards, passing a lake and a motorway service station. At the station the lion set its feet on the ground. A siren whizzed past, causing Phil to jump: he hadn't realised it had been silent until now, and once the siren faded the silence was deafening again.

"You looked pretty sexy riding on that lion" Phil turned sharply at the voice. It was Dan. Phil hadn't seen him riding on the lioness behind him until his voice piped up. Dan was leaning against the lioness' tanned side, wearing his tight fitting black jeans. He stood up straight and started to saunter over, the denim gripping him in all the right places. He came up to Phil and wrapped his slender arms around his torso. "Not hard for you to look sexy, isn't it Phil~"

Phil laughed nervously, that sound faded and they were left in silence once more. "Dan I-" Dan cut him off by putting a finger to his lips "don't say anything just follow me" Phil nodded, he had decided a long time ago not to question anything so he obliged, following him down a pathway he previously hadn't noticed, probably, he thought, because it hadn't been there until a few moments ago.

There was faint... light coming into the dark hall. Phil didn't know where it came from, since everywhere else was the darkest black. Phil's eyes drifted down the back of the man walking in front of him involuntarily, to rest on Dan's shapely arse as his hips swayed with every step. Dan led Phil to an almost pitch black room, in stark contrast to the somewhat light outside. Dan grabbed Phil's wrist and pulled him towards the bed situated in the middle and pushed him onto the bed.

Phil looked into Dan's eyes again, getting lost in them. He was bought back to his reality only by the feeling of Dan's lips crashing against his. Phil kissed back, eagerly and hungrily, after being starved of human contact for so long he yearned for more.

Dan's long finger's expertly unhooked the buttons on Phil's t-shirt and ripped it off to expose the pale, bare chest underneath. And Phil was doing the exact same thing, but with Dan's tanned chest instead. Their lips disconnected for the first time and Dan's moist lips slathered wet kisses over the warm skin on Phil's neck. Phil gripped at the brown locks and let out a growl.

Dan continued to pepper kissed along Phil's neck and jawline, working his way down Phil's chest. "Dan" Phil moaned. "Hush Phil, we have to be quiet here" Phil had so much he wanted to say to Dan but he didn't think he could express any of it in words right now. As a response to Dan he just bought their lips together again, putting all his unspoken thoughts and feelings into the kiss.

Their breath was mingled together and their warm bodies were pressed close. Phil soon took control of the kiss, it was his fantasy after all, and flipped them over so he was on top. He left a ring of love bites around Dan's thin neck and gripped at his narrow waist and he went straight back to the prolonged kiss. He closed his eyes and gripped to the person in front of him, as if he was afraid to let go and flipped them over so that they were lying on their side. He gripped harder onto Dan and started running his hands up and down his back.

Phil smiled into the kiss, wondering where it was going but at the same time not really caring; it was at least, going somewhere. If only in his head. Dan's hands snaked over his torso as they continue to kiss, lovingly and passionately. Phil felt hands intertwine in his hair and slowed the kiss, confused: Dan's hands were on his torso and his were around Dan's waist. He looked up to see another Dan leaning over him, outlined in a bright white light, looking down on him and smiling.

"Hey, Phil. Why don't you wake up?" Phil went rigid and stared up at the glowing Dan. "Phil, please wake up" the other Dan suddenly disappeared from under him and he looked at the urethral figure and looked harder as the figure reached out a shimmering hand. Saying in a worried, yet echoing voice "please, just wake up. That's all I need." Phil made up his mind.

* * *

He took the hand and snapped his eyes shut at the sudden brightness attacking his vision. The next time he opened his eyes he could only see white tiles. Phil squinted at the brightness of it and tried to lift up an arm to cover his eyes. But itwas hooked up to several wires.

The bright lights sent Phil's mind into a whirlwind of confusion, after the dim light of his dream he was practically blinded. Dan was still bent over him, at least he thought it was Dan, he was squinting so much he couldn't really tell. Phil didn't even try to sit up, he guessed he was in a hospital, hence the wires and bright lights, he still didn't understand why Dan was shining though.


	14. Coffee

Dan looked down over Phil. He looked so small, so helpless, so pale. His face all but blended in with the crisp white sheets of the hospital, contrasting with his black hair, making him seem even paler by comparison. Dan let out a sigh; he wished Phil would wake up. Dan took Phil's hand and pleaded "Phil, please wake up" Dan squeezed his hand, willing him to hear him.

He gripped harder at the bandaged hand and rested his head on Phil's chest. "Please, just wake up. That's all I need." He drew in a shaky breath and closed his eyes.

_Who am I kidding; he's been out for days now _

He pressed his cheek against the body to make sure he could still hear the heartbeat resonating there.

Of course he could just look at the monitor but Dan wanted to consolidate Phil's heart beat himself. Phil mumbled in his sleep. His eyes twitched. Dan watched as Phil opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden brightness of the hospital. "D-an?" Phil mumbled, barely audible. Dan breathed a massive sigh of relief, one he hadn't realised he had been holding in until just now. Dan grasped Phil's hand more tightly in both of his. He nodded.

"Yes Phil, i'm here" half open eyes turned to him and cracked lips choked in some dry air. "Wa-ter" Dan just nodded and reached for the half full glass of water that was waiting on the bed side table and he drank it with abandon.

Dan smiled his first genuine smile in days, he wiped a trickle of water that had escaped Phil's mouth, it was very difficult to drink lying down and Phil did not find it easier than anyone else. Phil smiled at Dan, his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth the way it always did, revealing some chipped teeth. Dan didn't say anything; Phil's teeth were hardly a pressing matter right now.

Dan reached a hand forward and lightly pinched a cheek, mindful of the bruises and cuts, and pulled slightly, making Phil pout cutely. This made Dan giggle quietly at the weirdness of it all. With them acting like a couple in that situation, that place and with that mind-set.

_Impossible, Phil is straight, even I can see that. The way he gushes about Sarah Michelle Gellar_

None the less he felt Phil should know, after all he had promised to himself to tell Phil what he really felt when he next saw him. Of course since he made that pact the time he next saw him was a few days ago, while Phil was still out cold in intensive care, and he had been true to that pace, whispering the words 'I love you' to a distant and dreaming Phil.

"Hey, Dan" he heard a small voice sound from below him to see Phil looking up at him. He faked a practiced smile and replied to him. "Yes?" Phil grinned. "Come closer" Dan went confused and bent forward a bit. "No~ Closer" Dan complied and went closer to Phil's face and felt a bandaged hand drape over his back. "Closer, Dan. I want to tell you something." So Dan rolled his eyes but relented and came close enough for Phil to whisper in his ear.

"While I was kidnapped I thought of a thousand ways to try and say this to you" he paused for a moment before continuing "but then I realised all of them were stupid and pointless so I just… I like you Dan. I like you a lot. In fact I'd even go so far as to say I love you." Phil's voice became a mere whisper at those last three words. Dan tried to formulate a response and nearly failed to. He was shocked, relived, slightly scared and happy all at the same time.

When he finally managed to produce something of a response he said "Phil, nothing you do will ever be stupid and pointless, thinking about you coming back home is what kept me going this past week and a half and there is nothing that means more to me than seeing your face when I wake up in the morning." Phil opened his mouth and gaped for a few seconds and Dan, leaning backwards and examining the others face, continued. "I'm actually glad you confessed to me. If you didn't say it, then it would've never come out, since I don't have the courage to tell you myself." He closed his eyes and smiled. "Thank you"

They sat there, contented with silence, and their thoughts. The silence was only broken when Dan heard soft snores emanating from Phil's mouth. He smiled. How did Phil manage to be so cute when he was sleeping, Dan was pretty sure the rest of the human race didn't look like an angel when they slept, more like partially resurrected zombies. He kept holding Phil's hand. Now that he had it he never wanted to let it go.

Dan looked up as PJ and Chris walked in about half an hour later, he signalled for them to be quiet, Phil might have been out cold for three days but that didn't mean he wouldn't still be tired. They both pulled up chairs next to one another. After asserting that Phil was okay their eyes travelled questioningly to Dan and Phil's interlaced fingers.

And a knowing smile appeared on their faces simultaneously as they locked their hands together as well "I guess we have something else in common, don't we?" PJ said resting a hand on Phil's bedspread. Chris doing the same.

Dan grinned the stupidest grin, unable to contain his happiness. "Soo" Chris asked, drawing out the 'o' making it obvious what he was going to ask "have you two kissed yet?" Dan shook his head, still grinning "nope, we have however, confessed our undying love for one another." Chris and PJ smiled at each other, Dan just giggled, still giddy. At this point Phil stirred.

"Mm, f-fish fingers" he moaned out. And after a long bout of stupefied silence, there was a sputter of laughter coming Chris' direction, and they all turned to him. Chris was laughing with a hand covering his mouth. Some tears started leaking out and he started to squint. He was crying. Dan touched his own cheeks to find out that he was crying as well. But not out of sadness, like the last time, but of happiness.

After the giggling fit had subsided, he yawned, all that laughing seemed to have tired him out. "Right, i'm going for coffee" he announced, standing and stretching "you coming PJ?"

"Huh, no I don't want any, thanks Chris"

"Yes, you do" said Chris, grabbing PJ's arm and pulling him towards the door "oh yeah, I've changed my mind, I do." Dan watched them disappear and chuckled to himself when PJ popped his head back round the door "oh and we might be a while, I think the que will be a bit long" He grinned, retracting his head from the door before Dan had a chance to say anything.


	15. Silence

**Strong language here. Well, that's to be expected, this _is_ a T-rated story. Nevermind it. Enjoy and please review. We likes the reviews.**

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PJ really wasn't very subtle, but he was right surprisingly. There was a que for coffee, guess everyone had had a long morning. Chris and PJ walked hand in hand, joining the que of people trying their best with a happy facade while in the company of others. Luckily they didn't have to pretend, Chris looked over at PJ who was smiling almost manically. Chris had to stifle a giggle

"You know that cupboard over there." PJ whispered, gesturing subtly over in a direction to his left with his head. Chris nodded. "Do you wanna get screwed so hard that yo-" he got cut off by a sharp elbow to the stomach and pouted. "What was that for?" he whined. Chris just gawped at his lack of sense. "We're in a hospital. We came for coffee. That's it."

PJ sighed in a tired manner and smiled, PJ _knew_ Chris wanted to but Chris just didn't think he could do something like that in the same building as his only-just-recovering friend and many other ill people besides. It just didn't feel right. He wanted it to be special. The que was moving painfully slowly, and PJ was starting to get fidgety. Chris heard him start humming a cheery tune under his breath. "I wish I had my ukulele" PJ muttered

"Pfft. Is that what you're thinking of at this time?" PJ nodded and draped an arm over Chris' slim shoulders as the que got steadily shorter. "What can I say? I'm a music man" he thumped his chest with a fist and smiled at Chris' growing grin. The due reached to the overworked machine and pressed for the ones they wanted. "Hey, do you remember what Dan wanted?" Chris asked

"Haven't the foggiest, why don't we just get one of each?" Chris looked at PJ "are you okay?" "i'm happy" PJ replied, still smiling "and besides, even with us there Dan will never leave Phil's bedside, he needs sustenance since he'll be too stubborn to get it himself" Chris just laughed. "maybe not all, but we'll get him a selection" After all the coffees were poured out, admittedly the machine only offered three types of caffeinated drink to begin with, they managed to stack them precariously atop one another and began making their way back to Phil's ward

They were walking really slowly. For the machine had ran out of lids after the first two and they didn't want any burns because those things were boiling. The stack in PJ's arms wobbled dangerously as he took one step too long. "Here, let me help you with that. I knew it was a mistake letting you carry all of them." he took two cups from PJ's arms so that they had two cups each. "Better?" he looked at him questioningly.

PJ nodded, and began humming again "should we chance the elevator?" PJ asked, normally that wouldn't have been a question but the lift had been so jolty on their way up and Chris did not fancy coffee stains or burns for that matter. "Nah, i'm not gonna chance it, and calling it might be just the slightest bit difficult. At least the stairs have swinging doors"

PJ shrugged "fair enough" and led the way to the doors to the stairs

_Good thing Phil's not that far downstairs_ he grimaced at the steepness of the steps and started to pace it down. He heard a groan from behind him so he turned around. To see Chris hanging on to the safety fail for dear life. "Peeeejjj, I don't wanna climb these stairs..." PJ laughed "you were the one that said you wanted to take them." He huffed and turned back around to continue "you have to go through with it."

"And you don't even have to climb them, we came up in the lift, now we go down" PJ was very tempted to skip down the stairs but one: coffee and two: the stairs were concrete and he did not fancy bashing his head on one of them. Chris sighed knowing PJ was right and started gingerly down the steps, wishing he had a free hand to hold the rail with.

As they made it to Phil's floor, PJ placed the cups on top of each other on order to reach for the handle. These ones weren't swinging ones like the ones in the waiting room on the top floor.

Chris fumbled with the coffee cups, in hind sight it would have been easier just to put them on the floor but instead Chris just knocked on the door with his elbow "hey Dan" he called "could you open up? Our hands are full!" Chris and PJ waited. Eventually the door creaked open slowly and they went inside "thanks Da-" Chris stopped, the room was dark, _had they interrupted something?_ PJ turned and tapped Chris on the shoulder "what?" Chris said slightly irritably. He saw a darkened figure as he turned to face PJ, who was staring directly at whoever it was. He let out a frightened whimper of fear.

But the figure didn't seem to see them. So PJ turned on the light and made his way through the now bright room. Not bothering to put the coffee down, foolishly so. Dan was sleeping, out cold on the bed, and Phil was still exhausted and was resting as well so the three were practically alone. PJ started moving faster, seeing the knife in the blond man's hand, but he tripped, sending the boiling hot coffee out of the open cup. And all over the man's neck, scalding the skin until it turned red. PJ managed to right himself in time to stop himself from falling.

But it was too late. Time seemed to slow down as the knife came closer to PJ's stomach. He looked back just in time to see Chris' scared face as the metal plunged into his abdomen, the serrated edge making the knife bury itself deeper into his flesh. PJ let out a gasp of pain as he heard a terrified scream erupt from behind him. That made time speed up again. And the room became a hive of activity.

Chris dropped his coffee cups, not even caring when they landed on his feet, the hot liquid burning as it seeped through his shoes. Chris lunged at PJ's attacker, a small voice in his head hinted _couldn't this all be an accident? _But Chris knew there was no way this could be an accident. The guy had a fucking knife! Dan ran to PJ before the attacker could get at him again while Phil frantically hit the button to call the nurses over and over again. Chris threw himself at the attacker, knocking him up against the wall, he held him there, angrier than he had been in a long time.

"That had better have been an accident." he snarled "what are you gonna do, your faggot boyfriends gonna die, one less abomination in this world" Chris refused to believe PJ would die. "NO!" Chris's voice rose to the point of screaming. And with that he punched the man squarely on the jaw.

The man's head rocked backwards from the force of the blow. But he just smiled and stared Chris dead in the eye. "Go ahead, punch me. Punch me if that's gonna relieve your sexual frustrations, you little cunt."

"Oh I will" Chris said. "Chris no, he's not-" PJ tried to say but ran out of breath "not worth it am I?" "I think I played a pretty big part in Dan's life to be worth something" oh Chris was surprised it had taken this long for him to realise, this was Dan's father. Chris knew how badly he had treated Dan and Phil, and was contemplating raising his fist ready for another punch, to get him back for all the pain and torment he had caused them, when two nurses burst through the door to survey the scene in front of them. Chris didn't need to imagine how it must look.

So he dropped the bastard after punching him in the face. Knocking him out and ran to PJ's side. Dan was trying his hardest to cover the wound with his jacket but it wasn't enough. The deep, red blood seeped out around the cloth and PJ's face was growing paler and paler by the second. His mouth was half open and his lips were blue. His eyes lidded and looking at the faces above him.

PJ watched them for another moment, his breathing becoming increasingly laboured, then his bleary eyes fell shut and his head lolled to the side limply.

"No... Come on, PJ" Dan said, patting his clammy cheek, "Stay with us."

His eyes drifted open again dreamily, but it was clear from his hazy, inconstant gaze that he wasn't really awake anymore. After a moment they closed again and he went entirely still.


	16. Clarify

Phil looked up as Dan came in "did you get to see PJ?" Phil asked hopefully. Dan shook his head just as a nurse bustled in after him. Phil didn't get why the hospital were still fussing over him, he felt fine, and they should be working on making PJ better. He voiced this opinion to Dan once the nurse had left. Dan just managed to force a slight smile. "They say you have suffered" he put on a high pitched voice, supposedly a poor imitation of a nurse "too much stress for us to let you go just yet" Phil sighed, he just wanted to know if PJ was alright

There was a knocking on the door and Dan got up to get it. "'Sup." A happy voice called in, too happy for the mood of the people inside. "We were worried about that dude we found. Is he okay?"

_What dude?_ Phil thought and then it dawned on him _oh me_ Phil's rescuers filed into the room, it seemed it would be too small to hold all of them but they managed to make it work. "I'm fine, thanks for saving me" Phil knew it sounded generic but he meant it, and he didn't know how to express his gratitude, especially stuck in a hospital bed which he had been given strict instructions not to leave.

"Is that him?" a furry head popped up from his survey of the room. And bright blue eyes widened "Whoa..." he paused for a bit. "These rooms are totally different from when I was in here!" He grinned "Jack, please stop scaring the poor guy and let me have a look at the damn person" he was pushed to the side by an unknown force as a shorter guy came round and gave him a judging stare.

Phil looked at the people who had saved him, all jostling for space in the now exceedingly cramped room. "How you doing'?" asked the shorter boy, Phil seemed to recall his name was Hamster, though he couldn't be sure. "I'm fine, thanks"

"Good, good" one of the group replied, Phil couldn't work out the source. The room then fell into an awkward silence. Phil shifted in his bed, just for something to do.

Phil searched around for something to say "hey, its hamster right?" he asked the shortest guy "where were you guys headed when you found me anyway?" The taller guy, Squirrel, looked at Hamster, who in turn looked over at Dan, whose jaw had dropped. "No way" Dan said in disbelief "great" muttered Squirrel "_now_ he remembers"

Dan gawped at the duo. And their friends, Seth, Joe and Jessie just looked confused. "I guess the cats out of the bag now, isn't it..." Squirrel walked over and picked up Phil's nameplate. "This would've been so much easier if we stayed anonymous"

"Suppose it would" muttered Hamster. Phil looked at Dan 'what did I do wrong?' he mouthed. Dan just shook his head "I can't believe it! I thought you guys had forgotten about me!" Seth, Joe and Jessie looked increasingly more confused, and Phil sympathised. He had no idea what he had said but he had the feeling he probably shouldn't have said it.

"Hey, uhh, Dan?" Phil asked because Dan looked like he was about to have a panic attack on the spot. "Do you want to spend some time with them outside?" And when Dan looked like he was about to argue Phil just shook his head and said. "Go sort yourselves out. You look like you need it." Dan nodded and dragged the two younger boys out by their wrists, leaving Phil with the other three. "Hi?" he waved cautiously at them. The girl, Jessie waved back and motioned the other boys to sit down.

"In answer to the question you directed at Hamster, we were going to, well, get drunk I guess" Jessie said. Phil nodded "i'm guessing you guys don't have any idea what's up with them either then" They all shook their heads. The awkward silence returned, broken only when another nurse opened the door to check in on Phil and they heard rather loud, slightly angry voices floating through the door. Phil looked up at the nurse "my friend PJ-"

"Is stable" She interrupted him, not unkindly. Phil sighed of relief. Stable could be good or bad at the moment, he hoped it was good.

"Hey, we have cards" Seth brought up a pack of cards in his hand and waved it around a bit. "Oi, gimme" Joe grabbed the cards from his hand and took them out the pack. "Well I hope that you like Poker because that's what we're playing" he started to shuffle them, after taking out the joker's of course. He started humming a tune as he was dealing them out and the nurse left, after she checked on Phil's health. The angry voices were louder than before and the group heard it but tried to ignore it.

They were doing a fairly good job of ignoring the shouting emanating through the hallway until Dan popped his head in, his face slightly flushed from anger, and informed them all he was going to check on Chris, Phil knew it would be futile to try and see PJ, and he imagined Chris must be torn up pretty bad right about now.

Hamster walked back in the room a few minutes later holding an ice pack to his face. He pulled up a chair next to Jessie and sighed, obviously waiting for the obvious to be pointed out. "Where's Squirrel?" Seth asked, purely out of curiosity. "Broken nose." he put it bluntly. "Dan wasn't happy with us reappearing out of nowhere after 7 years."

"You got in a fight?" Jessie asked "is Squirrel alright?" Phil remembered them saying they were dating. "Squirrel will be fine" Hamster assured her. He looked over at Phil, Seth and Joe, all of whom still had no idea what was going on. Squirrel decided to explain "We were best friends as kids, then Dan had to move away, we promised we would meet up but he never showed, we figured he'd forgotten about us" This was a very condensed version of events, but it'd do for now.

"We had a feeling that this would've happened so we decided to let things be. But lady luck decided to turn on us today." He took the ice pack off his cheek and poked the tender skin. He hissed and put the pack back in place. "So, deal it again. I wanna play too."

Phil felt a burning guilt, it was his fault he realised, when he had addressed the guy by his nickname, if he had only kept quiet. "sorry" he muttered "what for?" asked Joe "if I hadn't called Hamster by his nickname Dan would still be in the dark and Squirrel wouldn't have a broken nose" "s' alright mate, you didn't know, and besides, if you hadn't one of us would've slipped up sooner or later" Hamster said "'spose so" Phil mumbled still feeling guilty.

* * *

Dan stormed up the stairs, he didn't take the lift: he didn't trust himself in a confined space at the moment. He hadn't been intending to see Chris, he just used that as an excuse to get away for a while, but he figured he probably should, so that's where he headed. He felt a tad guilty for breaking Squirrels nose, and for leaving Phil with _them_ but right now he just couldn't face them.

He walked into the ER waiting room with his heavy feet pounding against the cold linoleum floor, startling the people waiting there. He saw Chris waiting in the corner seat. His eyes were half open and his hands were placed around the armrests in a white-knuckled grip. Seeing Chris' distressed expression, Dan immediately tried to calm his expression. He knows how it feels to be like that.

After composing his face into what he hoped was a calmer expression he approached Chris. He was so distraught he didn't notice Dan until Dan tapped him on the shoulder. Chris looked up at him, "Dan, are you alright?" Dan panicked _does he know about the fight? I'm supposed to be the one comforting him not the other way around_ Dan looked up and asked "what do you mean?" "Well, with your father being the one to do that to Phil, coming after you after this long, it's got to be pretty stressful right?" Dan sighed, partly out of relief and partly because it was true

Dan sat down next to Chris, "my problems can wait, i came up here to see if you were alright" Chris smiled. "they keep telling me that he's stable but i'm just so worried, they won't tell me what his injuries actually are, or even if he's awake yet" Dan just nodded, it would be awful, to have one friend bought back from the brink of death and then to have another fall at your feet. Of course that was _not_ going to happen. PJ would get better, he had to.

"Don't worry, he'll get better, I promise."

"But how can you promise something like that?" Chris asked. Truthfully Dan didn't know so he said "well, because I know he will" and for a moment there he believed himself, if only for a moment.

But it was a wonderful moment


	17. Sound

**After a ridiculously funny conversation with my friend (what would we do if we were guys and what ****our sexual habits would be. And deciding what our other friends would do in bed.)**, I decide to upload this chapter. I would love to show the world our habitual things in our conversations. 

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Beep beep

The world floated around PJ, twisting and turning and never quite making sense, of course it never quite made sense even when he was awake, but dreams were especially confusing. PJ didn't mind though, he was always interested to see what his subconscious would come up with next.

Beep beep

_Ahh, what has the world come to?_ He floated upside down _I wonder if i'm dead_. He stared at his hands. Turned them over and back again. Nothing wrong there. But then he remembered. "In the back" PJ muttered under his breath. But no matter how much he turned his head, he couldn't see his lower back. It was like that part had disappeared.

Beep beep

Perhaps it had. He floated, navigating simply by wishing, through the black abyss. He had no idea how he could see himself, since everything around him was so dark, but of course there is no such thing as darkness, just the absence of light. As he floated the black abyss turned blue, getting lighter and lighter. _I wonder what I would see if I looked down_ PJ was curious, he wanted to but he didn't and when he tried he found out that he couldn't

Beep beep

PJ opened his eyes to the bright, white ceiling and squinted. _It hurts_ he thought, shifting slightly as a burst of white hot pain shot through his system. He clamped his eyelids together and gritted his teeth. _It shouldn't hurt so much_ he moved his eyes around after he got over the pain slightly. But he couldn't see much because of the clear mask covering his face.

Beep beep

He moved an arm to shield his eyes, it was tethered to the bed in a tangle of tubes, but he still managed to move it. He now couldn't see much at all through the narrow gap between his arm and the mask, he could barely make out a blurry hospital room, well that made sense, he was visiting Phil. but if he was the visitor then why did he hurt too? There was a singular light and a light switch painstakingly close but not close enough.

Beep beep

He moved his eyes to the machine that was making that annoying noise.

Beep beep

His eyebrows furrowed. _I want to go back to sleep_ but he couldn't. There was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind.

Beep beep

Since the feeling didn't seem to want to go away and PJ knew it was futile to attempt sleep he thought he might as well wander round for a bit, nothing like a bit of mindless wondering to jog a memory. PJ attempted to throw his legs over the side of the bed when there was a searing pain in his side. He gasped and clenched his fists. _That might be the reason i'm in here_ Even though he knew why he was there the nagging feeling still seemed determined to stay. Even after the initial shock of the pain had subsided it hurt _a lot._

Beep beep

_This is annoying_ he thought as he ripped off the face mask. Taking a gulp of fresh air _I thought it would be easier_ he rubbed a hand against his now clear face. Feeling the stubble that had started to grow on his chin. "I want some water" PJ stuttered out and started to look around the hospital room for a spare glass. _It's too bad i'm still lying horizontal._

He debated calling the nurses for a while, the only person he really wanted to see was Chris, but he couldn't let him know he was awake without first alerting the nurses, and after the nurses would come the police, wanting to know what happened. Since he wasn't sure exactly what happened he continued on his pursuit for water

He let his eyes roam the room but it wasn't enough. There were still some areas that he couldn't see without sitting up. So he tried. He pulled himself up and leant on the heels of his hands, letting his head fall backwards. "F-fuck..." he breathed in, gasping. "God... that... hurts" he looked straight to see the room spinning slightly.

He closed his eyes until the nauseating feeling seemed to have passed, he looked around again, this time from a better vantage point, and saw what he had not before, a bedside table. It may not have seemed like much but in a blank room with no other furniture aside from a bed you take what you get. There was indeed a jug of water on the table and PJ was surprised and delighted to see, h=the contents of his pockets, including his phone

"Yes" he whispered triumphantly. He thanked his lucky stars and reached for the cellular device. "Come ooonn" he willed his arm to go further as the wires linking him to the machines grew taut. He closed his eyes as the drip line almost came out. But he managed to reach his phone. _Screw water, this is much better._ PJ sifted through the contacts until he reached the one he wanted.

The Gods had smiled on him today; he had signal and a full charge, not to mention he was alive. He pressed the call button and waited anxiously, the infernal beeping punctuating his thoughts like knives. On the third ring Chris picked up "PJ?" he questioned "Hi Chris" PJ rasped, he hadn't used his voice in a while it seemed, that coupled with the lack of water made him sound like he had just eaten sandpaper "oh my god PJ, you're alright! You are, aren't you?"

"Yeh, i'm alright. They allowed my phone at least" he paused to cough into his hand "where are you?" He choked out, waiting for an answer. "I'm in Phil's room, playing cards. They won't allow me to see you" PJ frowned. He felt fine. _Well, the doctors know best._ He lied down again. "I'm sorry Chris, but if you're not allowed to see me then I guess i'll have a nap"

He heard Chris chuckle from the phone "okay then, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite" PJ smiled, just hearing Chris's voice was enough to make him feel tingly, he supposed he should ask how Phil was doing but he was far too tired and he didn't think he could form anymore words with his throat in the state that it was. He deposited his phone back onto the table and picked up the jug of water, it was heavier than he expected so with shaking hands he poured himself a glass.

He sipped a bit and felt instantly better and dumped the empty glass on the table. PJ felt his eyes drift closed and his eyelids get heavy. _Tired now_ he was surprised at how quickly he got tired. _Just a little sleep. Maybe for a few minutes_ then his eyes shut tight and he was gone in seconds.

* * *

Beep beep

That infernal beeping again. PJ was on the fringe of consciousness and wanted nothing more than to drift off for a third time. His wish was not granted because at that moment he heard the door creek open, he peeked through one eye, partly because of the brightness and partly because he still wanted to feign sleep if he discovered it to be a nurse.

_Oh god, it is_ PJ closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. "Mr Ligouri, I know that you're awake, no use trying to fool me. I can tell by your heart monitor" PJ sighed and looked at the nurse who walked in.

The nurse looked him over and then looked around the room, noticing the half empty jug of water she said accusingly "you tried to get up didn't you?" PJ couldn't help grinning at his rebellious act, even if it was a small one. "You need to stay horizontal for a while Mr Ligouri, if you want your stitches to heal" He knew he probably should care about his own wellbeing but he just wanted to know if his friends were alright.

"Hey, Nurse" PJ asked. "When can I see my friends?" She frowned as she wrote a few notes on the board she was carrying. "Not for a few days at least."

"But-"

"But nothing. You need your rest in order for your wounds to heal" she picked up the remote that was hanging on the rails on the bed and pressed the up button. Making the bed lift up. "I'm sure you're thirsty, here, let me help."

Beep beep

PJ scowled, "does that machine have a mute button?" he asked, trying to keep his expression impassive as he spoke, annoying a nurse was not a good idea. "I'm afraid not" she said shaking her head. An image of a frightening machine, malfunctioning, turning into a robot and advancing on her while beeping, her cowering scared and screaming flooded his mind, he wasn't sure if it was because he didn't like her or because she had said something about being afraid, he felt an awful lot like Wiggles sometimes.

"Fine then" he crossed his arms and huffed.


	18. Epilouge

**Thank you to those who stuck with us for this long. We really enjoyed making this and we will probably continue a different story soon. One to do with the Hetalia fandom. (to those who know it, I love you)**

**Anyway, as a first story, what do you think? Let me know.**

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Two weeks ago a man was kidnapped from a train station in London, while his flatmate was assaulted in their flat. The details were vague but it has now been revealed that the attacker was Mr. Howell, father of one of the victims. We are now outside the courthouse today, where Mr. Howell stands accused of kidnapping, assault and grievous bodily harm. We have here one of the savours of the victim, Mr Seth Gordon. Now Seth, tell me. What state Mr. Lester was in when you found him?

"Umm, he-he was, he looked awful, his lips were blue and he looked whiter than a sheet, he's naturally a pale guy so he looked pretty much transparent. We didn't know what was going on, we just thought he was a stoner, then we saw he was tied to a chair, it was awful" Thank you Seth, Mr. Lester was found in a clearing near some disused train tracks by young Seth Gordon here and his friends.

Unfortunately, the other people who saved Mr Lester were either too busy of too nervous to appear in front of us today so Seth here is all we have. Thank you, Seth. Now, in other news, there has been a brand new park opened here in London and a man dressed as batman returned a wanted criminal to a police station, his identity is as yet unknown. Back to James in the studio.

* * *

Dan switched off the TV sighing, he got up out of the hospital bed and paced around the ward that had been his home away from home for the past two months. _My father will never bother me again_ he thought blissfully, it wasn't that he wanted to distance himself from his father; he wished more than anything they could be a happy family, but right now that didn't seem possible. He paced around the room, waiting.

The nurse walked in, holding Phil's letter of leaving, _or_ _whatever they're called_ and said "well, it seems that Mr Lester is ready to leave. Along with your other friend, Mr Ligouri, and so long as he doesn't put too much stress on his injury, he will be fine" _finally_ Dan flopped down on the hospital bed and dramatically placed his hand over his heart. "Thank you, good sir."

"No need to over-act Dan" Phil hobbled in on crutches after the nurse

Dan bought Phil into a bone crushing hug, stopping only when he realised that in Phil's fragile state he probably_ could_ crush his bones. Phil gave him a quick peck on the lips before turning around and hobbling out of the room. Dan just stopped and stared, he still wasn't used to this, he could feel himself blushing slightly. Phil turned as he reached the door way "what are you waiting for? I'm supposed to be the slow one; _i'm_ the one on crutches you know!" Dan just laughed, shook his head and followed Phil out of the door.

"Hey, guys. What took you so long?" PJ and Chris were waiting out in the hall. PJ had his arm wrapped around Chris' waist and was leaning on him slightly. Dan shrugged and started making his way towards the two waiting in the entrance way. "No reason, just enjoying the company" slowing down a bit so that Phil could keep up.

They took the lift: neither Phil nor PJ was in any fit state to take the stairs. There was just the four of them mercifully, it meant they didn't have to cram themselves in or stand around awkwardly waiting for the lift to empty. When the lift finally reached the ground floor it stopped with a lurch, almost causing Phil to topple over. Dan caught him and returned the peck on the cheek Phil gave him earlier, this time it was Phil's turn to blush.

"So, which one of us can drive?" PJ announced as they were leaving through the automatic doors at the front of the hospital. "Well definitely not you two" Chris replied, earning him a pout from both parties. "What? You can't drive in your state and Phil's foot is too chunky to fit in the pedal space, so don't look at me like that." They all looked away. "Uhmm, do any of you realise that we don't even have a car?" Dan piped up.

"Why don't we just get a taxi?" PJ asked "do any of you guys know the number of a cab service?" Chris got out his phone and scrolled down his contacts. While he was calling the cab service Phil was starting to lean heavily on Dan, he already looked exhausted. Dan could see dark circles starting to form under his eyes and he seemed even paler than usual. Dan helped him hobble over to a bench and sat down with him. Phil sighed and rested his head on Dan's shoulder eves closed and contented.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Phil scrubbed his face into Dan's arm and yawned. "Since the four of us have been together" Dan wrapped his arm around him and rested his head on top of Phil's. "Yes it has." He watched Chris and PJ bicker over which numbers to call, as the weight on his shoulder grew heavier. The two in front of them had finally decided to call a taxi after arguing like a married couple.

Dan chuckled, imagining Chris and PJ as a married couple was a thought that could keep him entertained all day. Dan listened idly to the phone call, not really paying attention to anything; he could feel Phil drifting off to sleep next to him. Eventually Chris and PJ came over to sit with them, plonking themselves down either side of Dan and Phil. "Taxi will be here in ten minutes" Chris informed them. "You two had a little domestic then?" Dan asked, grinning form Chris to PJ.

"Oh, shush it." Dan's grin grew wider and his eyes became perverted half-moons. "Lovers spat?" PJ flicked him in the forehead and Chris rounded his arm around Phil and Dan. "You're one to talk; he's practically sleeping on top of you." It was true. Phil was a dead weight on Dan, his cheek smudged up against Dan's muscles. There was even a little drool coming out of his mouth. Chris lifted up one of Phil's arms and dropped it. "See? Dead to the world"

Dan swatted Chris's hand away. "Ooh, look at you getting all protective." PJ laughed "I just don't want you to wake him up, that's all" Dan countered, going slightly red. That was part of the reason he supposed. "We all know that's not true, and besides, you'll have to wake him up sometime, the taxi will be here any minute now." Dan knew PJ was right but he didn't think he would have the guts to wake up Phil; he just looked so peaceful while he was sleeping.

"Well, look at that?" PJ said pointing to the black vehicle rounding the corner "speak of the devil and the devil shall appear, let's go" He accepted a lift up from Chris and turned around again "wake up sleeping beauty; we will be waiting in the taxi. PJ gripped onto Chris' shoulder as they walked, mostly for support, that and they just liked to be near each other. Phil looked up at Dan, he hadn't slept long enough for sleep hair or blurry eyes but he still looked a bit groggy. Dan stood and put his hand round Phil's waist as they made their way towards the taxi. Chris had already helped PJ inside and was waiting patiently for Dan and Phil.

"Come on then." Dan got up and gave Phil a hoist up. Giving him his crutches as well. "Let's go"

Chris leaned forward and was talking to the driver "we'll drop you and Phil off first okay?" Dan looked at Phil, worry evident in both their eyes. "Umm" Dan didn't know how to say, or rather admit, that he was not all that comfortable with going back to his flat. Fortunately he didn't have to. PJ, being the intuitive soul he was said to Chris in an undertone "umm Chris, I don't think Dan and Phil want to go back to their apartment just yet" Chris looked over at Dan and he just nodded. He understood.

Chris told the taxi driver the details and turned around to sit back in the seat. "Aren't we glad that all this mess is over, huh?" The announcement was met by tired nods. "Well, I don't know about you but I am _shattered_ so, i'm gonna take a nap" and yet again, he was only met by nods. Not from Phil. He had already beaten him to the punch. "Night." It didn't take him long to fall asleep. This whole issue had taken a lot out of all of them so no-one could blame him. "Hey, Dan." PJ started elbowing Dan in the stomach, he held up a digital camera. "Remember this?"

_Oh God_ Dan thought, in truth he had actually forgotten all about it, and he'd hoped PJ had too. PJ seemed to realise this from the look on Dan's face. "Don't worry, I've deleted them all, and i'm sorry" Dan just swallowed and nodded "i'm sorry too, I shouldn't have gone through your stuff like that" PJ shook his head "it's fine, it's probably better you found out, if you didn't' I wouldn't have Chris and I would hate Phil for having you"

The taxi trundled along through the London traffic. Dan was the only one left awake now, PJ had fallen asleep on Chris's lap, camera still clutched in one hand. Dan had to try _very_ hard not to organise his friends in provocative positions and take photos of them like that. Instead he picked up the camera, turned it on and turned it to face the four of them. _This picture will remind us that, whatever happens, we can get through it and come out stronger because of it_

*Click*


End file.
